Man dies in hit-and-run on I-40 West in Raleigh

A man died after a hit-and-run on Interstate 40 West in Raleigh, and police are looking for damaged vehicles and anyone who saw the crash near Cary Towne Boulevard. Raleigh police said officers responded just before 2:30 a.m. to a report of a body on the westbound lanes between U.S. 1 and Cary Towne Boulevard, where they found the man and pronounced him dead at the scene.

A preliminary investigation showed the man was struck by a vehicle that left without stopping. Several westbound lanes were closed while officers investigated the crash scene near the Cary Towne Boulevard exit, disrupting traffic on a stretch that carries commuters through west Raleigh and Wake County. Authorities had not released the victim’s identity in the reports reviewed.

Police are now asking drivers to check whether they saw the crash or noticed damage to a vehicle after traveling through the area. The evidence investigators need is likely to come from the car that fled, from anyone who passed the scene before dawn, or from people who can match a vehicle with fresh front-end damage to the time and place of the collision.

The fatal crash also came after another deadly I-40 incident in Raleigh in March 2025. In that case, Jose Abel Vasquez, 48, was killed while changing a flat tire on the right shoulder of I-40 near the Hammond Road exit, adding to a recent run of deadly emergencies along the interstate. On that earlier morning, the crash caused hours-long delays during the commute and underscored how quickly a stopped vehicle, a pedestrian, or a stranded driver can become vulnerable on one of Raleigh’s busiest roads.