Parents of Dallas hit-and-run victim plead for justice after son killed leaving concert
A simple walk home from a concert in Dallas took a shattering turn for one family. Now they want the suspect in the deadly hit-and-run to take responsibility for what they did.
Early Sunday morning, Cyndi and Clint Rains received the call no parent ever wants.
"I said, 'What do you mean? Seth got hit by a car?'" Cyndi Rains said. "I certainly was not thinking this was a fatal accident."
Their son, 23-year-old Seth Rains, had just left a Green Velvet concert at Silo Deep Ellum. He and his friends were walking home through the Dallas Design District when they crossed the intersection at Market Center and Turtle Creek around 2:40 a.m.
"We just thought, 'It's not that far,'" said Seth Rains' friend, Landen Ashby. "We've done farther walks, across busier streets. But now I just keep asking myself why we didn't take an Uber."
That's when a driver sped through the traffic light. Seth Rains was hit and killed.
His friends describe the vehicle as a black, four-door luxury sedan with noticeable damage to the driver's side and a shattered window. They say the driver slowed for a moment as Seth Rains' friends tried to get them to pull over, then they took off.
"I can't quit replaying it in my head, it all happened so fast," Ashby said. "He was my best friend, my rock."
Seth Rains was no stranger to CBS News Texas. Back in 2020, he was featured during his senior year at Summit High School, when the pandemic disrupted his graduation plans.
Seth Rains went on to earn a finance degree from Texas Tech, worked in Fort Worth for a year, and had just moved to Austin for a new job.
"He told me in his spare time, he wanted to mentor young kids on financial literacy. That's just who he was," Cyndi Rains said. "He was kind, funny, and hardworking."
Now, that future is gone.
"Faith is going to be the only thing that gets us through this," said his father, Clint Rains.
Surrounded by friends, family, his sister, and a baby niece, Seth Rains' parents just want the driver to understand who they took from the world.
"We need them to know what we lost," Cyndi Rains said. "I'm trying not to have bad thoughts about this person, but I just want them to know who they killed, and how much we loved him."
While nothing can bring Seth Rains back, his family hopes someone out there knows something that can bring them answers and accountability.
"Not knowing who that was...it's unnerving," Cyndi Rains said. "It's not going to change anything, but the person who killed my son needs to be found and held responsible."
If anyone witnessed the incident or has any further information, they are urged to contact the Dallas Police Department.