Police search clues, seek help in crash that killed pedestrian

Police are trying to determine why Heather Mitchell, 29, of Marion, was in the middle of Blairs Ferry Road NE near Rockwell Drive Friday morning when she was struck and killed by a vehicle.

'If anyone knows where she was earlier in the evening, we need to know,' Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said. 'We don't know what led up to this.' Mitchell was hit about 4 a.m. by a vehicle driven by Matthew Beltramea, 33, of Anamosa. Beltramea did not originally stop, but returned to the scene after police arrived and spoke to investigators.

'He didn't know what he had hit, so he drove to work,' Hamblin said. 'He doesn't work too far from there. He heard the sirens, so he came back.' Beltramea has not been charged. Hamblin said Beltramea was cooperative and tests confirmed he was not impaired. She said he likely would have been charged with hit-andrun if he hadn't come back to the scene.

According to an obituary on the website of Engelkes-Abels Funeral Home in Grundy Center, Mitchell grew up in Grundy Center and graduated from Grundy Center High School in 1999. She lived in Marion for the past five years.

According to the Iowa Department of Corrections, Mitchell was released from prison last month after serving time for drug marijuana, and third-offense operating while intoxicated. She had been sentenced to two years in prison in March 2009.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today the United Methodist Church in Grundy Center.