Sullivan fatal hit-and-run case closed without an arrest
‘Main suspect’ police believed was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that chased and ran over cyclist in 2013 is now dead
THE INVESTIGATION into the homicide of cyclist Michael Sullivan is being closed by police because the only suspect — himself the son of a homicide victim — has died.
For years detectives believed Sheldon Hebb was the driver of a truck that chased and ran down Mike on July 29, 2013, after he was wrongly accused of photographing a young girl. Investigators even arrested Hebb eight months after the crash, but didn’t have enough evidence to get a conviction. So he was released.
But Hebb died of a suspected drug overdose three months ago and on Tuesday, Hamilton police issued a news release saying the major crimes unit closed the investigation into Mike’s death “after the main suspect in the case was recently found deceased.”
Hebb’s death means he will never have the accusations against him tested in court.
While police have not named the suspect, Mike’s family says it was Hebb, a fact The Spectator has confirmed.
Hebb, 25 when he died and who left behind three children, was the son of barber Neil Harris, who was gunned down in his shop on Feb. 18, 2016.
“Michael Sullivan did nothing wrong.” DET. SGT. PETER THOM Hamilton police “This is as close as we’re going to get to closure.” NATHAN SULLIVAN Michael Sullivan’s son
Hebb’s mother recently told The Spectator her son was devastated by his father’s murder. And though Hebb, a convicted drug dealer, spent time in jail alongside the men who would later be convicted in his father’s killing, he never took matters into his own hands. He told his mom that “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Yet Mike — a completely innocent victim — was killed in a fit of vigilante justice.
The bitter irony is not lost on Mike’s family.
“It’s like karma,” says Mike’s mother, Gail Sullivan. “What goes around comes around.”
MIKE, 51,
was riding his bike to a computer store around 2:30 p.m. on that summer Monday because he regularly fixed computers to donate to schools. It was his way of giving back after having a rocky stretch in his life. He’d fallen off a roof a few years before, breaking his leg and back. He became addicted to the pain pills he was prescribed, then turned to street drugs.
But by 2013 he was clean, mentoring others into sobriety and living with his mom.
On his way to the store he stopped near Barton and Lottridge streets to text his son, Nathan, now 32. They were planning to get together.
Mike had an old flip phone and his eyes were bad. He used to hold it way out in front of him. A young girl playing nearby asked if he was taking her photo.
That turned into a confrontation with a number of adults and the girl’s mother called 911.
Of all the ironies in this case, here is the saddest one of all: Mike never took the girl’s photo. He had no photos at all on his phone.
“Michael Sullivan did nothing wrong,” says Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, in charge of the investigation.
Mike removed himself from the hostile situation and took off on his bike. He had his errand and had promised his mom he’d make pancakes for dinner.
A black 1998 Ford F-150 pickup truck parked nearby sped after him. The Sullivan family was told by investigators they believe Hebb was at the wheel.
Hebb and Mike were strangers to
The truck tailed Mike down streets and alleys until it caught him behind a business at Barton Street East and Cavell Avenue. Security video shows it striking Mike’s bike and throwing him against a wall.
one another.
The truck tailed Mike down streets and alleys until it caught him behind a business at Barton Street East and Cavell Avenue. Security video shows it striking Mike’s bike and throwing him against a wall. Mike suffered a catastrophic head injury. The truck sped off.
Gail waited for her son to come home.
“He didn’t come and I kept phoning and I got no answer,” she says. “I was really worried.”
Then police knocked on her door. Mike held on for 83 days in a coma. His family never left his side, including his daughter, Terra Sullivan, 26, and his sisters, Teresa Mummery and Sherre Sullivan. Since his death, both of Mike’s children have had children of their own.
Nathan imagines the panic his father felt as he was chased down.
All along police said they believed there were people who knew who killed Mike. According to the Sullivan family, the truck was owned by a man who sometimes lent it to Sheldon and Sheldon’s girlfriend.
Police made many pleas to the public for help solving the case. They released videos of the scene, produced Crime Stoppers re-enactments for TV and introduced a $50,000 reward. They put out a description of the truck driver: in his 20s with tan or olive skin and dark hair. It is a general description of Hebb.
But the people who knew the truth wouldn’t talk.
At one point, a woman was charged with obstruction of justice in connection to the case. That was Hebb’s girlfriend, according to the Sullivan family.
Samantha Walker, who is the mother of Hebb’s children, says the accusations against him are “absolutely disgusting.”
“You can’t ever believe the news,” she wrote in an email. “Sheldon is not here to defend himself. He was not charged.”
Sheldon’s mother, Jodi Hebb, also sent an email to The Spectator. “My son did not do that,” she wrote. “This is not fair for our family.”
Thom, the detective, has said the case has been “frustrating.”
He explains that while police met the evidentiary threshold needed to arrest their suspect, they didn’t have enough to lay a charge or find him guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Closing a case without an arrest is a rare occurrence.
Mike’s sister Teresa, who is extremely grateful to the efforts by police, knows there is nothing else detectives can do.
“I’m OK with it,” she says. “Very OK with it.”
However, she can’t forgive.
For Nathan, “This is as close as we’re going to get to closure.”
He is simultaneously relieved the case is closed and disappointed Hebb wasn’t held accountable by the justice system.
“I’m disappointed we don’t get to stand up in court and tell him what he did to our family.”