COLONIE, N.Y. — Police announced Thursday that they had found their target vehicle and that a "conclusion" is imminent in the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a National Guard leader from Central New York.
A blue 2016 Mazda CX-5 was discovered on property in Melrose, Rensselaer County. The vehicle had suffered heavy front-end damage and was missing the same grill and bumper parts found at the crash scene on Watervliet Shaker Road early Sunday morning.
That crash killed Master Sergeant Rudy Seabron, a 57-year-old Marine veteran who was in Colonie for training at the nearby National Guard base. Seabron had been walking home from a bar at the time he was struck.
The registered owner of the Mazda CX-5 found Thursday is a man in his 30s who lives in Albany. Colonie Police declined to identify the owner, but did question him. The vehicle itself was discovered on his relatives' property and has been turned over to State Police for a forensic examination.
Colonie Police said Thursday that they cannot confirm the owner was driving the vehicle when it struck Seabron, but they do know the car was not stolen. Detectives had combed through more than 850 vehicle sales records at local Mazda dealerships to find the vehicle and its owner.
The eventual arrest is expected to carry a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, a class D felony, among other charges.
An effort spearheaded by Albany County legislator Andrew Joyce had raised a reward of more than $2,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case. Joyce said late Thursday that if good police work renders the reward invalid, the money may be donated to Seabron's family instead.