Nearly a year after their son Travis was struck and killed, Renée and Dan Kubiak are pleading for anyone with information about the hit-and-run to come forward.
The Kubiaks, along with Rebecca Zimmerman, who also was hit but survived, held a news conference Thursday to ask for help in identifying the driver who hit Daniel “Travis” Kubiak, who was 27, and Zimmerman.
They gathered at East 19th Avenue and Pearl Street in Denver, where Kubiak was killed.
“It’s been difficult,” Dan Kubiak said. “There never is going to be closure.”
Travis Kubiak and Zimmerman, both University of Colorado graduates, were crossing East 19th Avenue last July when a car struck them. Kubiak was dragged more than 600 feet. Zimmerman was critically injured. She suffered a broken neck, three broken ribs and a concussion.
The driver fled.
“It’s been difficult, mentally exhausting with the ups and downs (of the case),” Zimmerman said. “The original feeling of the accident comes back after setbacks.”
A setback came June 29 when the only suspect in the case, Gerald Brown, was released after prosecutors were unable to verify eyewitness testimony.
Charges against Brown have been suspended, and not dropped, meaning that charges do not have to be refiled if more evidence is found against him, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office.
“We have not been able to prove he did or didn’t do it,” Kimbrough said.
Detective Tilo Viotel said investigators are lacking physical evidence. “Somewhere out there, there are people who can point us in the right direction,” he said.
Still bearing scars on her neck from the accident, Zimmerman, 27, said she is not in pain anymore but what happened that night always will stay with her.
“I always have it in the back of my mind that it could be my last day on earth,” she said. “It’s always going to be a fact of my life.”
She says she does not remember being hit. She and Travis were crossing a street after leaving a restaurant. The last thing she remembered was Kubiak offering to carry her on his back when her feet started to hurt because of her shoes.
“It will mean a lot to me that justice is served and that Travis is remembered,” she said.
Zimmerman said she was training for a marathon at the time, and that helped her recover from her injuries.
After the news conference, the Kubiaks paid their respects at a Swamp White Oak tree in Washington Park that was planted in their son’s honor last year.
“It has become a point of his presence,” Dan Kubiak said.
A $2,000 reward is being offered for information. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 720-913-7867.
Staff writer Christopher Ortiz can be reached at 303-820-1201 or cortiz@denverpost.com.
