FULTON, N.Y., April 24 (UPI) -- Investigators have named an Oswego, N.Y., man as the driver in the October 1968 hit-and-run death of a 4-year-old girl, Carolee Ashby, in Fulton, N.Y.
Police said Douglas Parkhurst, 62, was the driver of a car that struck Ashby as she, her sister and cousin were crossing the street on Halloween 1968, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported Wednesday.
No charges will be filed, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, police said.
The case had gone cold until a Facebook posting in 2012 by a retired Fulton Police Department lieutenant provided a lead to a witness, who now lives in Florida, who had been asked by a Parkhurst family member to say she was with Parkhurst and his brother at the time of the collision. She had refused, but police questioning of her led investigators to concentrate on Parkhurst as the driver responsible for the collision.
Police eventually found the car Parkhurst was driving the night of the crash abandoned in a field.
During numerous interviews with investigators, Parkhurst admitted he had been drinking before he drove that night. He confirmed he hit something that he believed was an animal but now knows it was the little girl, and also confirmed that he misled police when he was questioned almost 45 years ago.
Fulton police met with members of the Ashby family and advised them of the developments in the case, the Post-Standard reported.
