Douglas Parkhurst

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For 44 years Douglas Parkhurst hid in plain sight in Oswego County as the family of 4-year-old Carolee Ashby desperately searched for answers on who struck and killed the child on Halloween night in 1968.

Parkhurst confessed to the hit and run in 2013, but he was never charged -- the statute of limitations had run out . He never apologized, according to the girl's family.

There was no closure or justice for Carolee's family or the community, said retired Fulton Police Detective Russ Johnson, who got a tip that reopened the case in 2012.

But that changed on Friday, according to Johnson and Carolee's family.

Parkhurst, 68, was hit and killed by a vehicle Friday night in Maine. The driver, Carol Sharrow, drove across a Little League field and struck Parkhurst who was near the main gate of the field.

Sharrow then sped from the scene, according to the Sanford Maine Police Department.

"This is the final chapter in a 50-year tragedy," Johnson said.

Carolee Ashby's sister, Darlene Ashby McCann, said she feels like she finally has closure.

"I feel like it's over now," said McCann, of Oswego County. "He's paid the ultimate price."

McCann had turned 15 on Oct. 31, 1968. She went to buy candles for her cake with her little sister and cousin. The group was walking home at about 6:30 p.m. to get Carolee dressed to go trick-or-treating.

McCann was holding Carolee's hand when the 4-year-old was struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Division and South Second Streets in Fulton.

The collision threw Carolee 133 feet. The driver never stopped.

The Ashby family pleaded for answers for more than four decades.

Carolee's father and brother died before Parkhurst confessed in 2013 and her mother, Marlene Ashby, died last year. McCann said her parents died without ever having closure.

"I know my mother suffered and my father suffered," she said. "Our lives changed forever that day."

McCann said she feels relieved with the news of Parkhurst's death.

"I hate to think that I'm relieved that someone has passed away, but that's what I feel," she said. "Relief."

McCann called the circumstances of Parkhurst's death ironic and riddled with coincidences.

The obvious is that Parkhurst died the way her sister died: struck by a hit-and-run driver, she said. Beyond that, McCann noted that the driver of the car is named Carol, which is close to her late-sister's name. Also, Parkhurst was 68 and the crash that took her sister's life was in 1968.

McCann, however, said there was one huge difference between the hit-and-run crash that took Carolee's life and the hit-and-run crash that took Parkhurst's life.

"His family will have it a lot easier because they don't have to sit and wonder what happened," McCann said

Sharrow, 51, of Sanford, Maine, was arrested shortly after the crash Friday and charged with manslaughter, according to Sanford Maine police.

It took 44 years for the Ashby family to learn what happened to Carolee.

Johnson opened the cold case investigation when he was working as a Fulton police investigator in 2000. He wanted to help the still-suffering family resolve their questions about Carolee's death.

In 2012, after his retirement, Johnson came across a Facebook page about Fulton and on a whim he posted a description of the case to seek information.

Two days later, a woman from Florida answered. Acting on the tip, Fulton Police Sgt. Stephen Lunn and Investigator Michael Batstone began reviewing hundreds of pages of reports. They discovered that Parkhurst had been interviewed in 1968.

The statute of limitations had long since expired and there could be no charges brought against Parkhurst. Police repeatedly said their goal was only to close the case and bring closure to the Ashby family.

Fifteen days after police made contact with him, Parkhurst walked into Interview Room 3 of the Fulton Police Department. He told Lunn and Batstone he hadn't been completely honest and now, knowing he couldn't be prosecuted, would tell them what really happened.

He scrawled a four-page confession that said he believed he was the driver of a car that hit Carolee. He and his brother had been drinking when they left their brother's house and drove into Fulton; his brother was passed out in the back seat.

"I heard a thud. It sounded like I hit a dog," Parkhurst wrote. "I don't know where I hit that thing."

"I did not see what I hit. I did not stop."

"I know in my heart and I am 99.9 percent sure I hit that little girl with my 1962 tan Buick Special," he wrote. "I am oh so sorry. I can't change anything but I hope this apology will be accepted and I beg for forgiveness."

Parkhurst said he didn't know why the police hadn't questioned him again in 1968.

"I wished they did. I would have told them the truth."

Parkhurst was living in the town of Oswego when police came to his house in 2013, but shortly after confessing that he killed Carolee he moved to Maine.

Carol Sharrow, 52.

The Sanford Police Department and Maine State Police are continuing to investigate the crash that killed Parkhurst. The driver, Sharrow, is being held at the York County Jail in Maine.

Johnson said the case of Carolee's death has stuck with him for a long time. He called the circumstances to Parkhurst death shocking and mind boggling.

"It's an incredibly strange twist of fate that the guy who killed Carolee Ashby 50 years ago and hid in plain sight for 44 years suffered the same fate," Johnson said.