Leonard Wimberly Jr., who was affectionately nicknamed “Big Foot,” died while riding his bike on a Polk County road on the way to his sisters house.
Polk Deputies believe he was hit around midnight on Saturday Oct. 28.
“He was the best person you could ask for as an uncle,” Danielle Castilleja said. “He raised me. I can’t believe he is gone. It hurts me, I really do miss him, my kids aren’t going to know who he is now.”
Wimberly was just around the corner from Castilleja’s home. She said she was on her way home from Orlando when she saw first responders blocking the road. At the time, she didn’t know that her uncle was involved.
“I felt so bad because I felt like I could’ve saved him if I came home a little sooner,” Castilleja said. “I would’ve followed right behind until he made it into our neighborhood our road.”
Wimberly was hit on Masterpiece Road near Longhorn Drive in Lake Wales. That stretch has no street lights and very little space for bicyclists.
Deputies said they found pieces of the vehicle’s broken side mirror at the scene. Investigators have used that to figure out the type of car he's likely driving. They believe it's a 1998 to 2009 Dodge 2500 or 3500 pickup truck.
“He completed us honestly,” Castilleja said. “The worst thing anyone could imagine, how could you leave someone like that? You could’ve called 911 and said ‘hey I seen somebody get hit,’ you didn’t have to be there, just call for help, he needed help.”
Service for family and friends will be held at First Baptist Church on Rifle Range Road on Saturday Nov. 4 at 3.p.m.
If you have any information on this case call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-8477 (TIPS).
