Dear Unknown Person,
On Dec. 14, 2015, you were driving on Iowa State University's campus. It was dark and raining. You hit my classmate, my coworker, my friend, Emmalee Jacobs, on that morning. She laid in the middle of the road, in pain, until she was found. She did not survive.
I do not know your thoughts. I do not know if you realized at the time that you hit her. I pray that you did not know you hit her actually, because if you did know, that means you purposely left. I cannot help but wonder if she could have been saved if you would have stopped, or even called 911 as you fled the scene. I now assume you know you hit her. If you honestly still do not know, but you drove through that intersection on that morning, you should call the police.
If you do know that you hit Emmalee and you left the scene, I bet you are scared. You have every right to be scared. The repercussions are far worse now than they would have been, had you stayed. It seems easier to say nothing. I bet you pray that people will move on and forget. You do not want your life to change. However, this will eat you from the inside out. Guilt is powerful. You can ease a bit of that guilt by coming forward. The communities I live in have already dealt with enough grief over the last year to last a lifetime. Now, Center Point-Urbana, Iowa State University, and others have more grief to cope with in their lives.
I graduated with the Class of 2015 at Center Point-Urbana High School. Emmalee and I were in the top of the class, amongst three others. At graduation, standing on the stage as my principal read all of our amazing accomplishments in our four short years, I was looking elsewhere. In the crowd, one row and one chair diagonally behind my seat, was an empty chair. It was covered in a black cloth with a football helmet sitting on top of it. The chair was left open for Triston, a classmate and friend of mine killed a month and a half before graduation. He wanted to graduate so badly. He could not do that. Emmalee wanted to make something of herself. She was capable of so much, and I truly believe she could have changed this world. Honestly, she did. However, it was not in the way she would have liked.
Triston was not the first student my class lost. In the accident that ended his life, four others lost their lives. One month before Emmalee passed away, my best friend from high school's father passed away suddenly. At his funeral, her and I looked at each other and said, "No more deaths for 2015." We were wrong. My friend Mackenzie was killed in a car accident my freshman year of high school as well. The driver of her car is in jail. When the judge sentenced him, he told him that he will have his life back in a few years, but Mackenzie's family and friends will never have her back. If you come forward, you will eventually have your life back. Emmalee will not be coming back. Little Jack, as she called him, at daycare will never have her back. Her parents and siblings will never have her back. I cherish the memories I have with her, but I will never be able to create more.
CPU has been hit with multiple lives lost too soon. University of Northern Iowa has had multiple lives lost this year as well. Iowa State University has lost life too. As of right now, there is no closure. We all are still wondering and asking questions. All of the other lives lost have had answers, except Emmalee's. Please, come forward.
We all love you and miss you Emmalee.
Sincerely,
Everyone
