Brad Jacobs said he doesn’t understand why anyone, especially his daughter, Emmalee, would be a victim of a hit-and-run.

Emmalee Jacobs, an 18-year-old freshman in business, was found by ISU Police lying in the street at Lincoln Way and Ash Avenue at 7:04 a.m. Monday. She died in Mary Greeley Medical Center shortly after police found her.

She was on her way to take her first college final, Brad Jacobs said. Emmalee Jacobs lived in Buchanan Hall, according to the ISU directory, at Ash Avenue and Lincoln Way.

Commander Jason Tuttle of the Ames Police Department said they suspect Emmalee was walking north across the crosswalk when she was hit.

The Ames Police Department is investigating the incident as a hit-and-run. Tuttle said the department has narrowed down the time Emmalee Jacobs’ was hit between 7 and 7:04 a.m. during the dark and rainy December morning.  

“There’s no reason for a pedestrian to get hit,” Brad Jacobs said. “I teach Driver’s Ed [at Linn-Mar High School] and I always tell my students pedestrians always have the right of way.”

Emmalee Jacobs, a 4.0 student during her four years at Centerpoint-Urbana High and a teenager with a sense of humor her dad said could “make you laugh with one joke, one line,” was shy until she got to know you. She was not too shy to make the friends during her first semester at Iowa State that called her family offering support and sharing grief.

Dalton Jacobs, a senior in engineering at Iowa State, was excited for his sister to join him in Ames, Brad Jacobs said. However, he wanted his little sister to experience college her own way.

Emmalee Jacobs was intrinsically motivated enough that she didn’t need validation for her accomplishments that brought her to Iowa State University and continued in a successful first semester.

For Brad Jacobs, it’s not enough that his daughter had an almost completed successful first semester. She was supposed to return home for winter break on Wednesday after her last final.

“As a parent, you look forward to all the different stages of your child’s life: going through elementary school and high school and college. You wonder what career they will choose, who they will marry, what will their children look like,” Jacobs said. “I’ll have to cherish every memory.”

For the Jacobs family, the upcoming holiday season is going to be difficult when there are presents wrapped for their youngest child that she won’t open. Brad Jacobs said they will have to rely on the most recent memories they have of Emmalee at home during Thanksgiving Break.

“I really don’t know how we’re going to get through it,” he said. “There are so many things that are reminding us of Emmalee with the holidays approaching. We were so looking forward to her coming home.”

Tuttle said Ames Police are continuing to review video from security cameras on surrounding buildings and are asking for anyone with information regarding the incident to call at 515-239-5133.

Brad Jacobs said their family is hoping that whoever hit Emmalee will come forward.

“I’m sure they’re scared about what’s going to happen to them when they are caught or when they do come forward,” he said. “No matter what happens to them as far as what the law will do, it’s not even going to come close to the suffering her family and friends feel.”