GREENCASTLE, Pennsylvania — This weekend marks a full year since 28-year-old Timothy “Asti” Davison of Poland, Maine, was fatally shot in a road rage incident on Interstate 81 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, early Jan. 4, 2014, and state police are using the anniversary to once again ask the community for help.
There is now a large traffic alert sign at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center, asking drivers on the interstate to call if they saw anything.
Trooper Robert Hicks, along with Sgt. Linette Quinn, spoke Friday morning, offering the most new information state police have given in months.
Hicks said police are still going over evidence collected at the scene, and recently sent some evidence to an FBI lab for analysis. He did not give any further details on that evidence.
Davison was shot multiple times after his vehicle was forced into the median at mile marker three of northbound I-81, by what he described to dispatchers as a blue Ford Ranger. Davison was in Maryland and heading north when he first called 911 about the raging driver behind him, but had to call back after the call was dropped.
Police believe the driver fled south after shooting Davison. The Ranger has been described as a ’90s-era pickup, dark lapis blue, with damage on the driver’s side and front end.
State police have investigated “hundreds of vehicles,” Hicks said. They are still working with law enforcement in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, but the multi-state task force created at the beginning of the investigation is now more “informal” due to a year passing since the shooting.
“While they might not have the task force title, there are still people from our agency and other agencies that are still working on this case,” Hicks said.
“It’s been an extremely challenging, this investigation. Here we are a year later and unfortunately we still haven’t been able to make an arrest. You know, the time of night it occurred, we’re talking about it being 2 o’clock in the morning, dark, not a lot of people seeing a lot of stuff, not a lot of evidence left at the scene. So it’s been very challenging to piece it all together.”
Quinn and Hicks both said they have investigated tips throughout the year, and Quinn added they identified people through tips who were interviewed and later ruled out.
Though there have been hundreds of tips, Hicks said they have slowed down in recent months, becoming more sporadic.
“That’s why we’re still trying to get the word out there that we’re asking for people’s help to come forward. ’Cause we really feel like there is someone out there that knows something; we just feel like maybe that person just needs a little bit of courage to come forward,” Hicks said. “We’re really trying to coax someone to come forward with information.”
Hicks said it’s not unusual for state police to have ongoing investigations for a year or more, and that they remain optimistic.
“You do hear about an occasion when a crime isn’t solved until 5-10 years down the road. Obviously, is that the ideal of what we want to happen? No, but sometimes that’s the reality of the situation,” Hicks said. “Just because more time passes doesn’t mean the case becomes unsolvable.”
As for the people who remain concerned by the lack of updates from state police, Hicks said he doesn’t see a reason for locals to remain alarmed.
“We’ve never stopped working on the case even though you may not have heard about what we’re doing,” Hicks said. “I don’t think there’s any reason for people to be panicked or alarmed by this. We’re aware this person is still out there.”
Davison’s mother, Theresa Allocca, has been working closely with state police since the investigation began a year ago. She, like Hicks and state police, believes someone knows something and just need encouragement to come forward.
“I can say they’re being very thorough. When it does go to court, they’ll have everything that they need,” Allocca said. She said state police have been very transparent with her about their investigation and that she understands why she can’t reveal certain pieces of information to the public.
Allocca worked with them on the traffic sign and has been involved with various posters and signs being put up along I-81 at businesses and truck stops, each with the same number to call in case someone saw something.
“Hopefully we’ll remind someone that they saw something strange,” Allocca said, then speaking to the shooter: “It wasn’t just one person. You didn’t just take one life. You affected a family, friends and community, and you’re terrifying our community down there.”
But Allocca, like Hicks, has faith that someone will come forward and as Hicks said, be the “missing piece to the puzzle that puts it all together for us.”
“It’s just a matter of time,” Allocca said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the PA Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. Between Crime Stoppers and the family, there is a reward of more than $22,000 for whoever can provide tips that lead to an arrest.
More information on the reward and updates from the family can be found at www.justiceforasti.com.
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