Gwinnett County Sheriff personally pledges $5,000 to help solve hit-and-run death of deputy's son

Hoping to generate new leads, Gwinnett County Sheriff Keybo Taylor put up $5000 of his own money to the already $12,000 reward for information that helps solve a hit-and-run case from last summer.

The odds are steep, but for the sheriff’s office it’s also personal. The victim is the son of a longtime Gwinnett deputy.

"What we don’t want to do is let this particular case just go away," cautioned Taylor.

June 2, 2021 began with excitement with Richard Bartlett III, 23, moving out of the family home in Johns Creek to get his own place in Gwinnett County.

His family and friends were helping him move that night, forming a three-vehicle convoy.

They pulled over on McGinnis Ferry before the Chattahoochee River bridge because Richard noticed a mattress and box spring tied to the top of one of the cars had shifted.

He tightened down the load and walked over to talk to his friend behind the wheel.

That’s when a car fatally hit him, a driver who, to this day, is still on the run.

"My son had a full life ahead of him that was cut short," said his mother Tamara who works in the Gwinnett County Justice Center.

She witnessed the accident.

Sheriff Keybo Taylor and Deputy Tamara Bartlett talk about the fatal hit-and-run case that still has two families grieving: the Bartletts and the Sheriff's Office where she's spent 17 years.

But despite public outpouring of support, and signs around Johns Creek urging the public’s help, police say no solid lead has come in. They’ve chased tips as far away as Florida.

That’s meant eight months of agonizing unanswered questions for Richard’s mom.

"They killed my son," Deputy Bartlett said. "A 23-year-old young man full of life. Not something you just leave behind. You killed a human being."

Johns Creek Police tell the FOX I-Team there are no security cameras along that stretch of McGinnis Ferry. It was 9:30 PM when Richard was killed.

Typically, hit-and-run drivers are difficult to catch. A study by the Los Angeles Daily News in 2017 found only eight percent of LA hit and runs were ever solved or a suspect identified.

Richard Barrett with his mother Tamara watching brother Stephon Truitt at a Pittsburgh Steelers game Richard died June 2, 2021 when someone hit him along Maginnis Ferry Road in Johns Creek.

"We need some good will," said Sheriff Taylor.

Police say they’re looking for a dark-colored, four-door sedan, possibly a BMW that was also heading toward Gwinnett County that night from Johns Creek.

It may have damage to the right bumper and hood, front windshield, or passenger side doors.

Contact either Johns Creek Police (678-474-1605) or Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office (770-619-6655) if you can help.

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