'We need your help': Family seeks answers in fatal Anchorage hit-and-run

The aunt of a young man killed in a hit-and-run Saturday morning on the Glenn Highway said her nephew had been walking and getting rides around town after his car broke down a week earlier.

Sue Taylor said Joshua Goodlataw, a 22-year-old who was admired among his family and friends, texted his mother shortly before he was killed.

"He just said he was walking home, and that's the last time she heard from him," Taylor said. Goodlataw didn't say where he was coming from.

Goodlataw lived with his parents in East Anchorage. His father was on a work trip in Valdez over the weekend and Goodlataw's mother had gone along, Taylor said. It took them about a day to learn of their son's death, she said.

The Anchorage Police Department identified Goodlataw Sunday as the man killed on the highway. A witness called police around 3:30 a.m. Saturday and reported someone had been walking in the roadway and "was struck by a dark colored pick-up truck that was traveling inbound and that the truck had left the scene."

Detectives are still looking for the driver of the dark-colored pickup spotted driving away on the inbound lanes of the Glenn Highway between Boniface Parkway and Muldoon Road. A police spokeswoman said Monday that there were no new updates in the case.

Goodlataw's family is urging those involved, or anyone who has knowledge of the incident, to come forward.

"This a tragic loss for the family as Joshua was one of its shining stars. He was kind, polite, friendly, respectful, hard-working, and a thoughtful young man who loved his parents and family dearly," a statement from the family said.

Goodlataw had lived in Anchorage for most of his life, though he spent several years in Valdez. Most recently, Goodlataw had been working for Granite Construction in Anchorage as a flagger and piloting traffic through construction areas, Taylor said. He was not working when the hit-and-run occurred.

He likely would have graduated this summer from an apprenticeship program with the Laborers' Local 341, said program director Suzanne McCarthy.

"Josh was always happy," McCarthy said. "Even doing the hard work of a construction laborer, he always had a smile and a kind word for everyone he worked with."

McCarthy said Goodlataw was a role model for younger apprentices who were uncertain of their direction in life. He never failed to show up for work and practiced work safety instilled in the program, she said.

The hit-and-run that killed Goodlataw has "far reaching effects," McCarthy said.

"Safety is our bottom line, so this just really goes against everything we teach about unsafe drivers and the risk of drivers not taking personal responsibility for an accident," she said.

Local 341 has about 100 apprentices, and Goodlataw was one of 50 in the Anchorage area. He worked hard to get accepted into the program and during the three years he'd been participating in it, McCarthy said.

Taylor said the family is anxiously awaiting more information. Goodlataw's parents have requested a meeting with the police department, she said.

In the meantime, the family pleaded for new information.

"We need your help," their statement said.