‘One and only’: Family shares pain after fatal hit-and-run

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Over the weekend, family and friends ed a woman who was killed in a hit-and-run accident a week earlier.

The Richmond County Coroner’s Office said 38-year-old Joni Mitchell was riding a bike when she was hit and died on the scene at Lumpkin Road at Fleming Drive.

Wearing white and holding pink and black balloons, family and friends of Mitchell came together Saturday to and honor her.

“That was somebody,” said Evan Mitchell, Joni’s husband. “That’s not your grass outside, those aren’t leaves on a tree, it’s not trash you throw away. That was somebody.”

Joni was somebody’s wife, daughter, and mother.

Kathy Gill, Joni’s mom, said: “She took away my life, my only child, my only girl, she took her. For me to see the last memory I have of her is her laying in a road is unacceptable. I’ve got to that forever,”

It’s a pain Joni’s family and friends will carry with them forever.

“I want to know what was so detrimental in your life that it made you take mine,” said Evan.

Joni was everything to everyone she met.

“I’m going to be great because of her,” said Evan. “We’re going to be great because of her. We’ll succeed in life. And we’re going to make it with her.”

Gill added: “There will never be another Joni. That’s the one and only.”

As authorities progress in the investigation, Mitchell’s family is grieving and keeping her memory alive.

Those who know her best say she loved life and worked hard. She even had her own business.

Some words her family used to describe her include exceptional and remarkable.

On Thursday, authorities took a driver into custody in connection with the accident.

Richmond County deputies say they are charging Jasmine Johnson, 29, for leaving the scene.

Joni’s death was one of two more just this past weekend.

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