10 days later, no arrest in Wake father’s hit-and-run death. How you can help
Jay Guido spent the last hour of his life doing what he loved most: riding under a Carolina blue sky with his sons.
Guido, 53, was killed May 6 in eastern Wake County when a driver braked abruptly in front of his motorcycle, forcing Guido to swerve, according to the State Highway Patrol.
Guido and his two sons were all riding their motorcycles east on rural, two-lane Turnipseed Road when the accident occurred just after 11 a.m. near the intersection with Old Medlin Farm Road, the Highway Patrol said in a Facebook post.
“[A] passenger vehicle approached from behind and passed the motorcycles in a no-passing zone and abruptly braked in front of the group and drove away,” the Highway Patrol wrote.
When Guido tried to catch up with the driver, the crash occurred, according to the Highway Patrol. He died at the scene.
Ten days later, the driver still hasn’t been found.
Was it intentional?
Nate Guido, 20, doesn’t know who killed his father — but he doesn’t think the driver meant to kill anyone.
“I don’t see how any human would ever try and do that intentionally,” he told The News & Observer. “But I do think she was trying to spook him, maybe, or [was] just frustrated with us because we were going slow.”
Nate, his older brother and their father were on their way home to Zebulon after taking a ride to clear their minds, he said. They had returned two days earlier from Jay’s father’s funeral in Florida, according to Nate, who attends East Carolina University with his brother.
“I told him, ‘I couldn’t imagine what you’re going through,’ and now I’m kind of in the same boat,” Nate Guido said.
His dad had a lifelong love of motorcycles and bikes of all kinds, part of a family tradition, his son said. Jay went on to foster that same appreciation in his children, who grew up working on projects like restoring a 1978 Camaro with their dad.
The Guido men often rode together, though they’d only traveled Turnipseed Road a handful of times, Nate Guido said. And for much of the fateful ride that Tuesday morning, there was no sign it would be anything but ordinary — until Nate’s brother started having bike problems, forcing the trio to slow down and travel single-file at 20 mph.
That’s when the driver appeared.
“I didn’t realize there was anyone behind us, but we had hazards on the one bike, because the other bikes were too old to have hazard lights on them,” Nate Guido recalled. “[T]hey just kept honking. I even waved them on to pass us a few times, and they just kept honking.”
As the car passed them, it almost struck the Guidos, prompting Jay Guido to pursue the driver in what Nate assumes was an attempt to get her license plate.
“We were about half a mile back still, and we came up on the scene and we found our father just on the side of the road,” Nate Guido recounted.
A nearby resident called 911, and a nurse passing by the scene stopped to do CPR, he said. Jay Guido was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, according to Nate.
After paramedics arrived, Nate and his brother stayed behind to talk to police. It wasn’t until they arrived at the hospital with their mother about an hour later that they learned Jay Guido was dead.
“By the time I parked the car, I saw my mom and my brother hugging and crying, so I ran over to them and they told me,” Nate Guido said.
And though Nate and his brother didn’t witness the crash, as experienced motorcyclists, they believe the skid marks left by their father’s bike indicate what occurred.
“I can see the tire marks and how he had to slam on the brake, and then he released the brake to try and swerve into the other lane, because on a bike, you can’t swerve like that while holding the brake,” Nate Guido said. “So I could see where he released it to try and swerve and avoid contact with something.”
No arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon. Police described the driver as a middle-aged woman with light shoulder-length hair and sunglasses and her vehicle as a newer model silver or white Subaru Crosstrek or Outback.
“I would just like for her to turn herself in,” Nate Guido said. “I can’t forgive her, but I know she didn’t mean to kill him or anything like that. I just would like for her to do the right thing, that’s all.”
And they try to heal, Nate’s brother, sister and mother are trying to preserve the legacy of the man they love, a builder who always worked to provide for his family. A child of divorce who grew up poor and lost his mother at age 18, Jay Guido knew the importance of giving his family all he could, Nate Guido said.
“Growing up, I know we were kind of poor, but I never even knew because he would always try to hide it from us,” Nate Guido recalled. “He made it seem like we had everything, even though we had nothing. … He wanted to give me, my brother, [and] my sister everything that he never got when he was a child.”
A Gofundme for the Guido family had raised $25,777 as of Thursday afternoon.
Nate Guido said his family appreciates the support. He’s working to be grateful for what he had instead of mourning what he lost.
“I keep telling myself, I’m glad I got 20 years with the best dad I could ask for, than 40 years with someone who didn’t take care of me,” he said.
Anyone with information in Jay Guido’s death should call the State Highway Patrol at 919-733-4400.
