It’s the knock on the door the no one ever wants to get.
Monday morning, it came for Maria Barraza.
"I am very, very sad. I saw it all, I have that picture in my mind, I saw him and it will never go away,” said Maria Barraza.
Barraza was there as her father, Buenaventura Barraza-Maya, took his final breaths.
The driver took off and hasn’t been seen since.
"We don't know what exactly happened, his body was in the middle of the road though when they did find him,” said April Rivera, the Granddaughter of Barraza-Maya.
Ventura, or simply Gramps, as his grandkids called him, was on his morning walk.
It was something he did every day. He was pretty well known and he was easily spotted by people who knew him because he never went anywhere without his cowboy hat.
"The fire department came, the first responders, they recognized who he was, so he was pretty active in the community,” said Rivera.
His family says even at 83, he was active.
He was always a part of his grandkids’ and great grandkids’ lives and that is what they will miss most.
"Our loved one was taken by a now criminal incident,” said Rivera.
His family says investigators found paint chips at the scene which may belong to the truck that killed Barraza-Maya.
The family says they have forgiven whoever was behind the wheel. They are just asking for that person to now come forward.
Anyone with information is urged to call Phoenix Police or Silent Witness at 480-Witness.
