(WHAS11) A week has passed and still no one has been arrested for hitting and killing 37-year-old Dini Papapietro with a car and driving off.
On Friday, her husband spoke to media about his wife and asked the person responsible for her death to come forward. “She was a wonderful person and we’re going to miss her very much.”
Dan and Dini Papapietro’s story began 13 years ago, and 12,000 miles away in her home country of Indonesia.
The two married in Singapore, and years later found themselves in Louisville with their 11-year-old daughter Sela. But just last week, their life together ended.
Dini dropped her daughter off at Gilda’s Club on Baxter Ave. As she crossed the street, she stumbled and the driver of a late 1990’s model white Pontiac Tran Sport Minivan hit and killed her.
“I’ll miss her easy laugh, when she’s on the phone with her Indonesian girlfriends, her hours upon hours on YouTube and Facebook, and her insistence upon starting a movie at 11pm on a Tuesday night,” said Dan.
The driver of the van drove off and police haven’t made an arrest yet.
Dan said he and his family spent Thanksgiving together, celebrating and laughing, but his family wants a piece of justice.
He said, “I don’t think there’s any complete justice. I think most important, and Sela said this also, she just wants them to say that they’re sorry. Life is upside down. No certainty of the future, because I’m going to a home which was her home. I’m realizing that more and more each day, that everything has her touch and I miss her. I miss her.”
But as he and his daughter ask for the person responsible for their beloved Dini’s death to turn themselves in, they said there are things friends and family can do to keep Dini’s memory alive.
“When you ask me if there’s anything you can do to help, do something to make someone laugh, do something to make them relax and enjoy the present. Ask me to see a movie at 11pm in the middle of a work week.”
Dini’s former employer, Global Entertainment, is offering $500 to the person whose tip to police leads to an arrest of the person who hit Dini and drove off.
Police say they have received several tips about the hit and run, but nothing concrete.
If you have any information about this crime, or that white van, you are urged to call police at the anonymous tip line, 574-LMPD.
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