Family offers reward for help in fatal hit-and-run
On anniversary of tragedy, victim’s father makes plea for information, witnesses
SAN BRUNO >> On the anniversary of Carly Flynn’s death in a hit-and-run collision, her family is still trying to find out who was driving the white SUV that fled the scene near the Bayhill shopping center.
“We’re not going to let this go,” her father, Mike Flynn, said at a Wednesday news conference. “We’ll do whatever we have to do find the person responsible for Carly’s death.”
The Flynn family has hired a private investigator and is offering an undisclosed reward — said to be “in the five figures” — for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the death of Carly, who was walking home across San Bruno Avenue after making her daily Starbucks coffee run on Dec. 19, 2016.
“That’s all she was doing. She was in a crosswalk, lawfully, crossing with the light,” Mike Flynn said. “She never made it home.”
Carly Flynn, 29, had nearly reached the south curb of San Bruno and Cherry avenues when she was hit by the SUV as it made a left turn from southbound Cherry Avenue onto east-
bound San Bruno Avenue. The driver did not stop.
Rick Smith, a former FBI agent turned private investigator hired by the Flynn family, said a neighborhood canvassing of the area where the SUV was last seen turning onto Chestnut Street and a review of surveillance video has not turned up anything definitive about the driver. One witness has been located, which raised Smith’s skepticism.
“It’s hard for me to believe, as well as the police,
that there is only one witness, one person who saw this accident,” Smith
said. “Hopefully this (reward) will provoke someone to come forward that
saw something happen, or perhaps the person responsible. If that person’s out there that is responsible for this accident, this is the opportunity to come forward and save your soul.”
Mike Flynn added that his hiring of Smith was to provide more “eyes on the case,” and that he has the “utmost faith and trust” in San Bruno police.
When she died, Carly Flynn worked at the Century Theatres at the Shops at Tanforan, was a black belt in taekwondo, and an avid painter and illustrator. Her final acts in life were life-saving: Her heart and lungs were
donated to a 57-year-old woman and her liver to a 44-year-old mother of five. A 28-year-old mother of four and an 11-year-old boy were the recipients of her kidneys.
Her father added that her 22-pound cat Decker, adopted from the Peninsula Humane Society where she volunteered, still senses his owner’s presence in their home.
“Even now, a year later, he’ll go into her room and climb up on her bed and take a nap,” Mike Flynn said.
Holding back tears and exhibiting a weary look, Mike Flynn made one more plea for closure for one of the most trying times for his family.
“This has been a very long and hard year for our family. We think about Carly every day, we think about what happened to her everyday, and we think about the person responsible still being out there,” he said. “It’s not too late. … They can still come forward and do the right thing and clear their conscience.”
Anyone with information about the Dec. 19, 2016, hit-and-run in San Bruno can contact police at 650-616-7100.