Jacob Guy Halbrooks of Conyers was about to be married and had just left a bachelor party in downtown Atlanta when tragedy struck: He was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking along the Downtown Connector.
Now, his family has announced a reward totaling $5,000 for information about the vehicle – a witness described it to police as a dark-colored Mercedes or BMW sedan -- and its driver.
A black Mercedes-Benz recovered from the Chattahoochee River near Newnan on Tuesday was suspected but then ruled out as the vehicle sought in the accident.
Atlanta police “have been working every lead they can get, but nothing has panned out yet. That’s why we’re increasing the reward to hopefully get some anonymous tips to lead to the finding of the vehicle,” Robby Atkins, Halbrooks’ uncle, told the AJC Thursday.
The family added $3,000 to Atlanta CrimeStoppers' standard $2,000 reward. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 404 577-TIPS (8477) or go to www.crimestoppersatlanta.org to submit the tip online. Tipsters do not have to give their names.
Halbrooks, 23, was walking along the Connector (I-75/85) near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive about 2:20 a.m. Sunday when he was struck, police said. Halbrooks died of blunt force trauma, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“He was supposed to get married this Saturday,” Atkins said.
The uncle said Halbrooks and his friends “were out and about in Atlanta and doing a celebration prior to marriage and unfortunately he made a bad decision to walk along the Connector. He was not in the lane of traffic when he was hit."
Halbrooks grew up in Conyers, attended Springs Academy and worked as an installer for Shumate Air Conditioning and Heating. His funeral was Wednesday.
He left behind fiancé Kayla Pruitt of Conyers. She has a 2-year-old daughter, “and he had been a big part of the little girl’s life since she was five months old,” Atkins said.
Other survivors include Halbrooks’ mother, Joy Peppers, and sisters Tiffany Halbrooks and Amy Smith.
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