It’s been a year since Kaiden Estling was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Highway 150 just south of Fayette. It’s said that time heals all wounds, but for Kaiden’s mother, April Estling, that healing process can’t begin until the person responsible has been caught. Chris DeBack photo
Family still waiting on 'Justice for Kaiden'
By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com
It’s said that time heals all wounds
April Estling doesn't know if those words will ever ring true for her after her son, 14-year-old Kaiden Estling, was killed in a hit-and-run accident a year ago.
“It is like a piece of me is missing,” she said as she fought back tears. “Every time I picture his face, I can literally feel my heart shatter. It never gets easier. Now that Friday was a year since it happened, it feels like it is happening all over again. No matter what his brother and I do, our family isn’t complete. We are missing someone.”
On Thursday, June 28, 2018, Kaiden, who lived in Maynard, had gone to Fayette on his moped to visit a friend, and his mother told him to be home before dark. After hanging out with his friend, Estling went to leave town but noticed that some of his other friends were getting out of class at Warrior Servant Martial Arts in Fayette, where he took martial arts, so he stopped to talk to them.
After losing track of time, Kaiden left Fayette to head for home on his blue 2016 Yongfu moped, but he would never make it.
“About 10 p.m. I realized he wasn’t home, and I started feeling sick to my stomach, it was really weird,” Kaiden’s mother recalled. “I yelled out to his little brother, Amir, who was in the living room, ‘Did Kaiden come home?’ and he said ‘No.’”
At approximately 10:08 p.m. the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call for a moped accident on Highway 150 near 118th Street approximately two miles south of Fayette. Kaiden was in the southbound lane of Highway 150, when his moped was struck by another vehicle causing him to lose control and end up near the west ditch. The driver fled the scene and someone else found Kaiden and called 911.
“When I realized he wasn’t home I started calling him, and he didn’t answer,” April said as she began to sob. “That wasn’t like him, even if he missed the call he would call me back within a couple minutes. At 10:30 p.m. he wasn’t answering me, he wasn’t calling me back so I got in the car and I knew he had gone to Fayette, so I headed that direction.”