The father of an 18-year-old Leilehua High School graduate who was killed early Tuesday by a hit-and-run driver in Wahiawa said last night that someone out there knows more than they're telling.

"Somebody has to know something," said Army Staff Sgt. David Aldridge, who has been stationed at Schofield Barracks since November. "Somebody has to know that there's a vehicle that just showed up that's got front-end damage that wasn't there two days ago."

The Honolulu medical examiner's office identified the victim yesterday as David Wayne Aldridge II, 18, and listed the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries.

Investigators with the HPD Traffic Division's vehicle homicide section said Aldridge was riding his bicycle along Kamehameha Highway near the Dole Plantation when a speeding vehicle, possibly a red flatbed truck, veered onto the shoulder and struck the young man at around 1:35 a.m. two days ago.

Police said last night the investigation is ongoing, and appealed for anyone with information about the incident to contact HPD.

The elder Aldridge, who has been deployed twice to Iraq, was on an Army training mission in Texas when his son was struck and killed. He returned home early yesterday to be with his wife, Susanne, and the couple's 3-year-old daughter, Destiny.

The child and her older brother were especially close, said the older Aldridge.

"He loved his little sister," he said. "He would bathe her, dress her, baby sit for her, play with her all the time. Most of the money he made working went to his little sister — of his own choosing. He would bring his sister a toy every day from the PX where he worked.

"He was spoiling her, not only in gifts, but in love. It's just something you don't see from an 18-year-old anymore."

FUN-LOVING 'MCLOVIN' '

Family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances of Aldridge described him as fun-loving and outgoing. His father said his friends nicknamed him "McLovin'." Many who knew him expressed shock and sorrow that the young man's life ended suddenly just as it was set to take off.

"I'm devastated," said family friend Maria Figueroa, who lives down the block from the Aldridge family. "He was 18 years old, graduated from high school and starting his own life. And the next thing you know somebody hit him, and they just ran."

Figueroa said Aldridge was an exceptionally warm-hearted kid who was too independent to accept her offer to give him a ride home from work at nights. Instead, he preferred to ride his bike.

"If I had to highlight one thing about him, it would be his friendliness," said Aloha Coleman, principal at Leilehua High School, where Aldridge graduated a month ago. "For only coming in here in November, he had made a lot of friends."

"He was a happy-go-lucky kid," added Edna Hill, manager of the Burger King restaurant where Aldridge had been employed for several months as a food service worker. "He was popular."

Hill said Aldridge worked the 4 to 10:30 p.m. shift, and then would ride his bicycle to the Helemano Military Reservation where his family lived on A Pono Court.

SPOTTED BY A PASSERBY

But he didn't make it that far as he pedaled home in the rain early Tuesday.

Aldridge's dad said he placed flowers yesterday at the place where his son was killed. He said investigators told him his son was struck with such force that it threw him some 150 feet and tore off both his helmet and shoes.

Yet the impact didn't kill him instantly. A passing motorist spotted Aldridge in the grass next to the highway and contacted authorities. Aldridge was first taken to Wahiawa General Hospital in critical condition, according to police. He was later transferred to The Queens' Medical Center, where he died at around 5 a.m.

The father is encouraged that headlight pieces and other parts of the vehicle that hit his son were retrieved by police to be analyzed by forensic specialists. But he believes the key to finding the person who killed his son is some unknown person who has vital information about what happened.

"I'm asking everybody that has a neighbor to check out each other's car," he said. "And if they think it might be connected to give a tip to the police. I would like anybody with knowledge of the driver of the vehicle to come forward — or for the driver to turn himself in."

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 529-3499.