He carried no identification as he walked on the interstate in the early morning hours. When the 26-year-old was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer hours after Thanksgiving, Gwinnett County investigators were left with questions.
Who was the man? And why was he walking on the interstate?
At the same time, more than 200 miles away, a mother pleaded for help finding her son.
"Please help us. Our son is missing," the family posted on Facebook. The Wilson family of North Carolina would spend their holiday trying to reach their son and brother.
By Friday evening, the man's identity was no longer a secret. Calvin "Cal" Key Wilson Jr., 26, hadn't made it home to Charlotte from Texas for the holiday because he had been killed on I-85 near Suwanee.
"We’re having to bury our son with a lot of questions, when we should be celebrating his life," Wilson's father, Calvin Wilson Sr., told the AJC.
Although neither police nor Wilson's family may ever know what led to the graduate student's death, it was photos of his tattoos that confirmed the tragic news. Friday afternoon, Gwinnett County police released two photos of Wilson's tattoos, including one of a Grateful Dead image and the other depicting an all-black image spanning several inches.
The pictures of the tattoos were graphic, showing some of the injuries the man sustained when he was hit by the tractor-trailer. But investigators felt it was the only way to identify the man, according to Cpl. Jake Smith with Gwinnett police.
Wilson's father said a friend of another son e-mailed the family a news report from Atlanta late Friday that included pictures of the tattoos.
"My dear friends, we have found Cal. Our news is not good," Tammy Wilson, Cal's mother, posted on Facebook.
A trip to a mortuary confirmed what he already knew, Calvin Wilson Sr. said.
"It was him," the father said.
In the days since Cal's death, his father said the family has learned little about what happened. Wilson last heard from his son the night before Thanksgiving, shortly before midnight. Cal told his dad he was out of gas, and his father told him to call AAA, a roadside assistance company, then call him back.
That was the last time he would hear his son's voice.
"He never called them or me," the father said.
When Cal didn't arrive home, his parents called police to report him missing. The Wilsons and their other two sons and a daughter spread the word on Facebook that Cal was missing.
At 12:30 a.m. Friday, a motorist in Gwinnett County called 911 to report that a man wearing jeans and a dark jacket had run across the southbound lanes of I-985, north of Ga. 20, according to police records obtained by the AJC. The caller told police the man had darted out in front of his vehicle and was nearly struck.
Officers responded to the call and checked both northbound and southbound sides of the interstate for the man, but never found anyone, police said.
At 3 a.m., police officers responded to a crash scene, this time about 7 miles away on I-85 near Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road. A man, later determined to be Cal, was struck by a tractor-trailer as he walked in a lane of the interstate. The name of the tractor-trailer's driver was not released, but investigators said speed wasn't a factor. The driver was not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was not charged in the wreck.
Several hours later Friday, Cal's car was found on the side of I-985 near exit 3. Police believe Cal was walking to get help when he was struck, Smith said.
But there's no explanation for what happened to Cal from the time he last called his family until he was killed more than 24 hours later. Police have no reason to suspect foul play, Smith said.
Cal, who was attending AOMA Graduate School of Integrated Medicine in Austin, Texas, was a good student and always involved in student and community activities, his father said. He graduated in 2009 from UNC-Charlotte and was studying osteopathic medicine, including acupuncture.
"This was a young man I was so proud of," his father said.
The family is hopeful that by sharing Cal's story, someone may come forward with clues to what happened.
"I'm looking for closure on what happened to my son," Cal's father said. "He was a shining light to everyone he touched."
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