EAST COBB - One year has passed since 23-year-old Charlie Enricky Jones III of Fairburn was struck and killed by an unknown driver in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2009, in east Cobb. Yet, there have been no new leads in nearly a year nor have any suspects been identified in the hit-and-run case, according to Cobb police.

On Sunday, a group of Jones' family and friends gathered before dawn for a memorial vigil at the site of the tragedy on Piedmont Road near Rio Montana Drive, to remember Jones and bring attention to the unsolved case. His mother, Sharon McCarter, traveled from Alexandria, Va., to remember her eldest of two sons and bring attention to the case.

She read aloud two letters she wrote. One letter was written for Jones, in which she expressed sorrow in not being able to see him someday have children of his own. The other was addressed to the unknown driver who fatally struck him and left him in the road.

"Why? How could you do it?" read McCarter, as she shed tears. "He was my son, a human being, a person. A young man who had a future ahead of him. I think about how he must have felt - shocked, in pain, not knowing what happened. Not able to move, and helped himself and then you chose to leave him here."

Other relatives in Virginia listened to the vigil via speakerphone as prayers were offered and a wreath was laid on the median of Piedmont Road.

Cobb police say Jones was hit by an unknown driver around 5 a.m. while he was walking in the northbound lanes of Piedmont Road near Rio Montana Drive. The driver fled the scene. While he was lying in the roadway, Jones was then run over by a 2008 Toyota Tundra truck, driven by Nenesack Chanthaboury of Marietta. Police did not file charges against Chanthaboury, who stopped at the scene.

Jones was pronounced dead after being airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center.

Investigators believe the initial car to hit Jones was a 2000 to 2004 Infiniti I30 or I35 model, based a right-side mirror collected at the scene. It is the only piece of evidence they recovered.

At a press conference after the vigil on Sunday, Cobb Police Sgt. Dana Pierce said investigators checked junkyards, wrecker yards and body shops throughout Georgia. He said police also ran tag numbers based solely on Infiniti models found in the state's database. None of those actions, he said, have led to any new leads.

Though the hit-and-run site is located next to a residential neighborhood, Pierce said there have been no witnesses and that interviews with Chanthaboury didn't turn up anything more.

"Being a year ago, obviously these leads have diminished to nothing," Pierce said.

"I spoke to the lead investigator in this case late yesterday afternoon, just to get an update for here today, and he told me there is really not more than what we originally recovered as far as evidence and nobody has come forward."

However, at least one of Jones' relatives expressed concern about how the police investigation was initially conducted. Jones' cousin, Marcus Coleman of College Park, said Jones' body was at first labeled as "John Doe" at the Cobb Medical Examiner's Office and that his mother wasn't contacted by authorities until three days after the incident.

"I don't understand how that could happen and I don't want this to happen to another family," he said.

"It's very disheartening when you have your cousin hit by one car and run over by another car like a dog in the road. I'm a little more angry because I feel like our window of opportunity has been somewhat narrowed."

Pierce defended the police department and said there were no missteps committed by investigators. He acknowledged that hit-and-runs involving pedestrians, while not common in Cobb, can be difficult to solve as a result of a lack of evidence.

Most hit-and-runs involve just vehicles, in such locations as parking lots. In 2007, in Smyrna - Cobb's second largest city - there were a total of 412 hit-and-runs reported.

In Georgia, a person who commits a hit-and-run that causes death or serious injury and knowingly fails to stop -which is a felony - can be sentenced to between one and five years in prison.

According to his family, Jones - known as "C.J."- graduated from Robinson High School in Burke, Va., outside of Washington, D.C. He attended Norfolk State University, NOVA University and DeVry University. Before his death, he was working as an information technology trainee.

At the vigil, his brother, Cory Jones, a 20-year-old student in Chicago, said he is sure that the hit-and-run perpetrator realized that it was the first anniversary of the incident.

"I don't know how he lives with himself," Cory Jones said. "But, I do feel like maybe it's time to move on - not to forget - I forgive because I don't want to have to live with you in my life anymore."

The family is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the first driver. They ask anyone with information to either contact Cobb police at (770) 499-3900 or the family at (404) 964-1233. There is also a Web site at www.charlieejones.webs.com.