Sarah Kloepping

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

It's been 17 years since 17-year-old Ricky Hochstetler was killed in Manitowoc County.

On Jan. 10, 1999, he was hit by a vehicle, dragged nearly 200 feet and left for dead on a lonely stretch of highway near his home. The driver was never found.

Though the years continue to add up, Hochstetler's mother, Debi, hasn't gone a day without thinking about her son or finding the person responsible.

"The not knowing is the hardest part of all," she said. "We don't know who killed him. It's an unanswered question. I think if we had the answers, it would be a little easier."

Hochstetler was a Lincoln High School junior at the time of his death. His mother had dropped him off at a friend's house for pizza and movies. She told him if he needed a ride home to call her. Instead, he apparently decided to walk home.

According to newspaper accounts, the teen was on the west shoulder of Manitowoc County CR near Silver Creek Road in the town of Newton when a southbound vehicle hit him from behind and dragged him almost 70 yards.

Authorities said the vehicle continued south at least as far as Clover Road in Newton following the crash.

Hochstetler's body was found at about 2:30 a.m. by a passing motorist. It was later determined he died of a skull fracture, brain trauma, spinal cord injury, neck and back fractures and other internal and lower body injuries.

Debi thought she heard her son, who was a little past his curfew, quietly enter the house that night.

"I thought he had already come in. It was really a shock when (law enforcement) said there was an accident and he was gone," she said.

Evidence indicates the driver who hit the teen never stopped.

"Time does help, but it's the constant nagging of who killed him," she said. "Somebody knows who did this. I don't care about the judicial system and I don't care about this person going to jail. Even if it's anonymous, I just want answers. And I'm sure they would like to get that off their chest, too. What I would like is a chance to forgive, to know what happened, so I can have that chance."

Wisconsin cold case: Ricky Hochstetler

Officials believed the driver may have been drunk or fell asleep at the wheel.

"One hundred percent I believe it was an accident. They didn't mean to kill him," Debi said.

Investigators determined they were searching for a late 1980s model Chevrolet truck, Blazer, Suburban or van based on more than 200 vehicle pieces found at the scene. But about 15,000 of those types of vehicles were registered in Manitowoc and four surrounding counties.

The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department was reported to have spent thousands of man-hours at a cost of more than $100,000 to investigate.

When the incident first occurred, tips were pouring into the department. Unfortunately, none of them led to an arrest and, as time passed, the leads ran cold.

Debi never plans on giving up, though. She wants to find answers, not only for herself, but for her son, who would have been 34 this year.

"Somebody knows who did this," she said. "Through these last 17 years, we've had our good days and we've had our bad days, but we just feel like we're in limbo. It just always weighs on you."

— HTR Media archives contributed to this report.

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