Blake Trevor “BJ” Berry Jr. was a 32-year-old White man from Indian Springs, Alabama, whose life ended in the dark hours of February 7, 2021, along a busy stretch of Interstate 459 near Hoover. While family and friends remembered him as a working man with big plans—an independent contractor in residential remodeling who dreamed of starting his own construction company—state troopers were piecing together a final, violent moment that no one had yet fully explained.
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and reporting that followed that day, Berry was walking on I-459 southbound near the Acton Road exit when he was struck by a vehicle sometime between about 10:00 p.m. and midnight. The impact happened near mile marker 17, roughly a mile north of Hoover, and the driver did not stop. By the time authorities reached him, Berry was pronounced dead at the scene, leaving behind a timeline defined by a narrow window of darkness and a driver who disappeared into it.
Investigators treated the case as a hit-and-run and began searching for the vehicle responsible. Troopers publicly sought information on a gold Toyota sedan—believed to be possibly a Camry or Avalon from around model years 2007 to 2009—hoping the car’s damage, sightings, or repairs might lead someone to come forward. News coverage emphasized that little else was available while the Highway Patrol Division continued its work, and tips were directed to the state trooper line as the search for the fleeing driver continued.
In the days that followed, the official updates available in public reporting remained spare: no named suspect was announced, and no arrest or criminal charge was reported in those accounts. What persisted instead was the contrast between the ordinary details of Berry’s life—school, work, the things he loved—and the unresolved question of who struck him and kept going, leaving investigators to rely on fragments: a short time window, a specific exit, and the possibility of a distinctive sedan moving through the night.
