According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 1,000 people are killed by hit-and-run drivers each year. Those most at risk for this horrible act are elderly people and children—our society’s most vulnerable.

During the first week in May nearly 35 years apart, two Iowa children were struck by vehicles and left to die.

On the afternoon of May 6, 1971, 8-year-old Valerie Peterson was riding her bike in front of a Manson, Iowa, church when she was hit and killed instantly by a blue-green pickup that did not stop. Another child described the vehicle and the people inside it and the small community believed that the men involved could be identified. But the evidence was mishandled and the case has never been solved. Valerie’s family is left with a painful combination of grief, anger, and frustration.

On May 3, 2005, four-year-old Josh Yoder was struck by a medium blue 1990s Chevrolet Corsica in the 500 block of South 9th Street in Clinton, Iowa, and died the next day.

Why would someone fail to stop and aid a child? The NHTSA does not try to speculate on the reasons, admitting that they are as varied as the suspects involved. But, what could be more cowardly than this act—on both the parts of the drivers and of those who help them conceal their heartless acts?

The Peterson and Yoder families need answers. Perhaps you or someone you know can help them.

If you have any information regarding the murder of Valerie Peterson, call the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department at (712) 297-7583 or fill out the Contact form on this site.

Clinton County Crimestoppers—at (563)-242-6595—will pay up to $1,000 for information in the investigation of Josh Yoder’s murder. Private citizens of Clinton have also established a reward.