Victim's mother to hit-and-run driver: 'Own up to it'

Terrance Rayshone Faison, 23, was walking along Poole Road on Oct. 29, heading home from a bus stop after getting off work, when he was hit by a passing SUV that didn't stop, police said. His body was found the next morning, along with pieces of the vehicle.

On Monday, the State Highway Patrol arrested Caesar Leake, 47, of 1033 Spawn Place in Knightdale, and charged him with felony hit-and-run, aggravated death by motor vehicle and driving while impaired. Leake, who remains in the Wake County jail under a $275,000 bond, also is accused of encouraging his wife to cover up the crash by telling an insurance company that the SUV was damaged when she had hit a deer.

An anonymous tip helped the Highway Patrol put Leake’s SUV at the scene and ultimately led to his arrest.

"I’m just very relieved," Faison's mother, Fredericka Faison, said of the arrest. "My heart is still broken because my son is not here with me, and he didn’t deserve to be hit and someone just hit him and leave him."

Terrance Faison was an aspiring musician who always had a smile on his face and words of encouragement for those he met, according to his family.

"Terrance would get up and sing every morning. He had always had a song in his heart," said his aunt, Timika Shields.

"He wasn’t just a singer, he was a scholar. He was a social activist in his own right," said his uncle, Frederic Faison.

Fredericka Faison expressed anger and bitterness toward the hit-and-run driver.

"I’m in awe that a person can be so heartless," she said. "You hit my son. Own up to it and deal with it and, finally and most importantly, change your life."