Hit-and-run victim had turned life around

HILO » Raymond L. Carvalho IV wanted to see his girlfriend, who was still getting over a previous incident between them.

Because his car was broken, he started a 3-mile walk in the darkness from Volcano Highway south of Hilo to her house in a backwoods subdivision, hoping to set things right.

A hit-and-run driver killed him that night.

The force of the impact left the imprint of a Chevrolet emblem on his body, girlfriend Marlena Dedrick said a police officer told her.

At 10:25 p.m. March 9, just before the accident, Carvalho had called Dedrick on his cell phone.

"Love you," he said. "Love you, too," she responded.

He also told her "some chick" drove past him back and forth four times, then finally offered a ride. He turned down the ride, Dedrick said.

Police said Carvalho's body was found beside North Kulani Road at 10:44 p.m., one-tenth of a mile from the highway.

Yesterday, police put out a request for public assistance in the case. A blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup, 1999 to 2006, or a blue Chevrolet Tahoe or Suburban, 2000 to 2006, might have been involved, they said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 961-8118 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.

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HILO » Raymond Carvalho's death was "almost destiny," said his boss, John Gonsalves.

He'd had a bunch of problems: his car breaking down, his motorcycle being stolen, his girlfriend kicking him out of the house.

But he also had a bunch of good things happening: success at his job, the prospect of a raise, the promise of a car he could borrow for a while, the girlfriend who seemed ready to take him back.

Just as the bad was turning to good, Raymond L. Carvalho IV, 34, was killed March 9 by a hit-and-run driver as he began a 3-mile walk at night to his girlfriend's house near Mountain View south of Hilo.

Police said he was hit while walking north, away from Volcano Highway, by a car also traveling north. In other words, hit from behind.

The road where he was found is narrow but paved, straight, with good visibility, Gonsalves said. The girlfriend, Marlene Dedrick, 32, who is Gonsalves' sister, said police told her he was wearing a white sweatshirt. Wearing white was unusual, since he was a mechanic who got dirty easily.

Called by police to identify the body, Gonsalves woke his sister at 4 a.m. to tell her the news.

"I've spent every day crying," she said.

Carvalho graduated from Laupahoehoe High School but spent his life moving back and forth between California and Hawaii.

Dedrick and Carvalho met on a motorcycle run in 1997. They stayed together for a year and a half, then broke up. They got together again in May.

Gonsalves gave him a job at the fencing company where he is a superintendent, expecting him to quit in a week because of the hard work.

"I gave him the most absolutely worst job," Gonsalves said. "He took everything I threw at him. I was writing him up for a pay raise."

Gonsalves' 12-year-old son loved Carvalho. They had in common their collections of miniature steel automobiles. Gonsalves would buy his son 20 at a time. Carvalho had a wall-size display collection of them.

Dedrick's 12-year-old daughter loved him, too. "She's taking it pretty hard," Dedrick said.

Another of Dedrick's brothers was going to loan him a car.

When Dedrick kicked him out, her mother took him into her house for a week.

He would call Dedrick and say, "Babe, please take me back." Dedrick's mother told her, "Take him back again."