Hit-and-run victim dies of injuries

John M. Keller was known as a man who always had everyone else's interests at heart. Whether he was giving a helping hand to someone who needed money or ensuring that his wife of 31 years had everything she could ever want, Keller cared about those around him.

Those who knew him say the lifelong Roseburg resident was also known as a man who could make people see the positive in an unfavorable situation. Quite simply, he made people smile.

“He had this wonderful sense of humor,” said his wife, Pilar Jo Keller. “His humor helped me survive the horribleness of life.”

“Now I'm afraid I'm not going to be very funny anymore,” she continued. “My material writer is gone.”

After 10 weeks in the hospital, Keller died Friday at the age of 54.

Keller was seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash May 29 on Northeast Stephens Street in Winchester. Keller was riding a motorcycle and struck the rear panel of a car driven by 22-year-old Dustin Kyle King, who then left the scene. King was sentenced Wednesday to 25 months in prison for failure to perform the duties of a driver.

The impact with the vehicle broke both of Keller's legs, separated his shoulder and broke a rib, his wife said. The injuries required surgeries, which were performed at Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend in Springfield.

Once he was removed from a ventilator, Keller caught pneumonia. Then doctors discovered bleeding ulcers. His liver started to shut down, causing other organs — such as his kidneys and heart — to fail.

“His body couldn't take the trauma and heal itself,” his wife said. “It just started shutting down.”

At one point during his stay at Sacred Heart, doctors believed Keller could recover, but an overnight stay at a physical therapy center resulted in Keller being sent back to the intensive care unit. Early last week, Keller was placed on comfort care. He died days later.

Today, friends and family members are remembering the Roseburg man as an avid outdoorsman who loved life. He enjoyed riding motorcycles, either on the street or in the dirt, and he loved people, his wife said.

Pilar Jo Keller met the man she would one day marry when she and Keller were riding the school bus. The pair dated off and on for seven years before finally marrying 31 years ago.

“We're inseparable,” his wife said. “Our friends didn't say John and Pilar, they said John-Pilar because that was us.”

The 1976 Roseburg graduate had been employed with the family business — Keller Lumber Company — since he was old enough to work, his wife said.

Keller's friend of more than 20 years, Phil Bradford, said anybody who knew Keller considered him a best friend.

“I always felt and believed in my heart, anybody who ever met John came away a little more cheerful,” Bradford said. “They were better for it.”

In addition to his wife, Keller leaves behind his son, 31-year-old Lucas Mahaffey.

“Never was there a greater husband and friend,” his wife said, “and never will there be again.”

Dustin King gets 25 months for hit-and-run

A 22-year-old Winston man who fled the scene of the hit-and-run crash that injured John M. Keller of Roseburg, who died 10 weeks after the accident, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 months in prison.

For leaving the scene of a May 29 accident, Dustin Kyle King was charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver in a serious physical injury crash. In addition to the 25 months in prison, Judge Joan Seitz sentenced King to 36 months of post-prison supervision. His driver's license was also revoked for one year.

Keller, 54, died Friday after spending the 10 weeks since the crash in the hospital. Even though the Roseburg man died after the crash, the charges against King did not change because the scope of the serious physical injury charge includes death, Deputy District Attorney Steve Hoddle said.

“Many people have asked us why we're not pursuing manslaughter or some serious assault charge ... the evidence is just not there,” Hoddle said during the sentencing hearing.

Dressed in an orange jail-issued uniform, King faced a dozen of Keller's loved ones who attended the hearing in the Douglas County Circuit Court and read a letter he wrote.

“I never meant to cause the Keller family any pain,” he said. “ ... Not a day goes by that I don't wish I could do things differently.”

On the morning of May 29, King pulled out of a market parking lot on Northeast Stephens Street in front of Keller, who was driving a motorcycle on his way to work, Hoddle said. Keller braked to try and avoid the collision, but crashed into the rear quarter-panel of the vehicle driven by King, Hoddle said.

Rather than stop the vehicle, King fled the scene, Hoddle said. Keller suffered multiple broken bones in the crash and was transported to the hospital.

Police caught up with King about two weeks later when the car in which he was riding was stopped. The officer recognized King and took him into custody.

King was also charged with possession of a controlled substance as a result of the stop because police found a methamphetamine-filled syringe lying next to the man, Hoddle said. King pleaded no contest to the charge Wednesday and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.

King's attorney, Jeffrey Greenwood, asked that the judge give King probation for the failure to perform the duties of a driver charge because he believed the charge implied that King caused the crash. The lack of additional charges, Greenwood said, shows that culpability is missing.

Greenwood also said that King was in a state of panic after the crash, and while King leaving the scene was wrong, the outcome would not have changed had he stayed.

Seitz, however, declined to deviate from the sentencing requirements.

Keller's friend of about 10 years, Craig Oebel, addressed the court on behalf of Keller's wife of 31 years, Pilar Jo Keller.

“Pilar wants you to be a man and take accountability for what you've done. You don't leave a man lying in the road to die,” Oebel said, staring at King. “... All she wanted was to be able to talk to John again, and that never happened.”

• You can reach reporter Marissa Harshman at 957-4202 or by e-mail at mharshman@nrtoday.com.