WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- It was almost 10 p.m. June 11 when Angela Barnett left a West Valley City Smith’s Food and Drug and crossed 5600 west near 4000 south pushing her toddler Gavyn in his stroller as her 9-year-old daughter walked alongside.
The little girl said she watched a speeding white car hit her brother’s stroller, knocking the 2-year-old to the pavement. She remembers seeing the driver stop and even recalls hearing him saying something before speeding off.
“He said something like, ’I hit the stroller,’ and drove off,” she said. “My brother was laying in the road on his back, and his diaper fell off, so I picked him up and laid him on the sidewalk so he wouldn’t get hurt,” Serrena Barnett said.
Angela Barnett said time hasn’t healed the wounds left by losing her baby and every day the that his case remains unsolved, the pain gets worse.
“Now that I feel like he’s not coming home, he’s not walking down the stairs saying ‘Mommy;’ it’s horrible," she said. "I cry every night. I cry every second. I cry myself to sleep."
Sgt. Jason Hauer with the West Valley Police Department said any time an unsolved case runs out of leads it goes cold, that’s where the investigators are at with Gavyn Barnett’s hit and run.
“It’s a very tragic case," Hauer said. "Obviously our heart goes out to the family and we want closure for them. We want whoever is responsible to come forward and take ownership for what happened that night."
Barnett said she may never get over the guilt she feels for not walking in a crosswalk that night, but she feels at the very least her son deserves justice.
“It’s frustrating, it’s very frustrating because I don’t get to see my son anymore,” she said. “He was only two, and he was my life.”
Anyone with any information should contact West Valley City police. Angela Barnett is working to save money to offer a reward. Donations are being accepted at Wells Fargo under the name The Gavyn Barnett Fund.
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