This week, Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a proclamation authorizing $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Sampson County resident Gerald Adrian May.

According to reports, May was killed on July 6, 2006 after being struck and killed by a motor vehicle around 10 p.m., while pushing his bicycle along N.C. 24, just outside of Clinton. The driver of what is believed to be a tractor-trailer never stopped after May was hit.

The death is still under investigation by the N.C. State Highway Patrol and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.

May had four daughters — two were just 6 and 7 years old at the time of his death.

The reward was issued at the request of Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton, who was approached by May’s mother, Vera Sumrell, about increased efforts to find information on the hit-and-run driver.

Sumrell said she had observed the Governor’s Office had issued rewards in homicide cases in Sampson County and requested the sheriff’s assistance in securing one to help solve her son’s case. Thornton obtained pertinent information from the N.C. State Highway Patrol and submitted a letter to Perdue’s office on Feb. 10, requesting her assistance in securing funds for a reward in the case.

“I just called the governor’s office and asked them to help,” said Sumrell, who had offered rewards in the past. “They put me in touch with the right people and told me what I had to do, and I did it. I wound up with Sheriff Thornton and Capt. Julian Carr, who were very gracious to me and helped me out. The work that they did led to getting this reward.”

Perdue officially signed the proclamation Tuesday.

Sumrell said the loss of her son and the lack of answers in his death were “extremely frustrating.” She is hoping that with the reward now in place, it may jog someone’s memory and be the crucial link in the unsolved case.

“I hope someone will have a conscience,” she said. “I hope they will have enough humanity and compassion to come forward, because it has been very difficult.”

Sumrell said to have her son taken away when he was just 43 is something no family should have to deal with.

“He was a very loving man and was a good father and a good son,” she said. “He didn’t deserve to be killed and left like he was.”

Anyone with information on the death of Gerald Adrian May is asked to contact the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at (910) 486-1262, the N.C. State Highway Patrol at (910) 592-3141, or you may contact the Sheriff’s Office at (910) 592-4141.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.