Family wants justice after grandmother killed in hit-and-run riding bike

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A beloved Detroit mother was killed in a hit-and-run while riding her bike near I-96 and Outer Drive.

Shelia Jett was described by her daughter as her lifeline, but Saturday that was cut short when someone hit her and left her for dead in the middle of the street.

"I don't know how anybody could live with their selves. I just want justice for my mom," said Mia Matthews.

Saturday night officers arrived to tell Mia her mother was hit while riding her bike on Schoolcraft near Bentler in Detroit by a person who left the scene.

"They left my mom in the middle of the road to die," Matthews said. "It was an accident and now you made it into something else; now it is a murder. You left her in the street to die."

Jett, 62, was riding her bike to her daughter's house when she was killed. Police are looking for the hit-and-run driver.

"I know that they felt something, I know they saw my mother, I know they hit something," Matthews said. "I'm just asking anyone who's seen anything, if anybody knows anything, please come forward."

Her family says Shelia loved flowers, loved to cook and loved to ride her bike - it's how she got around. She leaves behind five children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

"She was a good person, a good soul. She deserves to be at peace," said Ashley Tucker, her sister.

"It is hard, you'll never forget," Matthews said. "You just have to be strong for the grandkids. I just want her legacy to always be there and to live long."

Her mother did not have insurance and the family is struggling to find the funds for a proper burial.

As police continue to search for the person responsible her family has a message to drivers in hopes of this not happening to anyone else.

"People need to pay attention to the road, stay off their phones and stop driving so fast," Matthews said. "We just want to find out who did this."

The family does have a GoFundMe you can donate to here.