Nationwide search for family of man killed on Pio Nono ends in Byron

For weeks, a Byron man's son and sister have been trying to find him.

Richard C. Mitchem's family had been calling his roommate, but they just learned of his death, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said.

"They saw it in the media," Jones said Tuesday afternoon.

Jones has been trying to identify Mitchem for three weeks after the 59-year-old was killed while crossing the street.

Mitchem died Jan. 8 — with no identification on him — when he was hit by a car in the 2800 block of Pio Nono Avenue near the entrance to the old Westgate Mall.

In the days afterward, Jones released pictures of Mitchem's tattoos in hopes that they would help lead to his identification, but no one came forward for 21 days.

Jones had planned to seek a court order to have him cremated, but his body will now be turned over to a local funeral home.

Last May, another homeless man without identification was hit on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard in north Macon.

He was identified days later, but authorities could not locate family members.

Relatives in Ohio learned of his death only after Charlie Ray Brown had already been cremated by court order.

This story was originally published January 30, 2018 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Nationwide search for family of man killed on Pio Nono ends in Byron."