How do I find out what happened at a roadside memorial?

On one of the roads I drive there is a memorial right next to the road, a cross with the name Kim on it surrounded by flowers. I wonder who this person was and what happend to them. How could I find out?

Do an online search of the local newspaper obituaries for someone named Kim.

Check with the County Clerk or Department of Vital Records for recent deaths.

Google News Search Kim Kimberley [name of road] [name of city/town]

Any more ideas? I’ve tried searching obituaries and google but I’m coming up dry. One problem is that I don’t know the persons last name or have any idea when the accident might have occured.

You could post your location details and let the Dopers try their Google fu. We are pretty good at it and love a mystery.

Other than that- what do you expect? There is no national registry of roadside memorials. They tend to be pretty spontaneous things. All you’ve got is internet research, asking around town or maybe contacting whoever maintains your roads.

There is more than one unofficial registry, though:

http://www.nationalmemorialregistry.com/

http://www.memorialhiway.com/

links to other (many international) sites

Kim might be the last name. Perhaps the driver was of Korean ancestry.

Give us the facts; we’ll find it.

When did you first see it?. How old did it appear then? Does it appear maintained?

Where exactly is it? Post a Google or Bing map link pinpointing the spot.

What does it look like (plain cross, cross + circle, star of David, etc). What does it say? Ideally, post a photo where we can see everything about it clearly.

Might not have been a driver. There’s a flotsam of stuffed animals and cheap shit on a corner by the boyfriend’s store where some pedestrians got flattened a few months ago. (Also, it might not be recent - this was probably six months now.)

Could this be it? It seems like her family and friends are pretty active, and her birthday is coming up.

Of course, I could be looking at the wrong city all together.

If you drive the road now and then, keep your eyes open for a local cop and ask him/her. I did that with one in Moon Twp; even though it was on the state highway, the local police knew the story and background.

Your in the right state. The memorial is in NC on us 311 headed from High Point towards Winston Salem. I will get the coordinates next time I drive there

Call the NC State Highway Patrol or the NC DMV and ask them. Or try the local media in the area.

As a slight hijack, I recently read a news article about a tragedy involving a roadside memorial. The grandmother of a young girl that was killed at the location was killed by a vehicle when she stopped to place flowers there two weeks later.

If that isn’t irony, I don’t know what is.