Arrest made in hit-and-run crash

[File photo by Bruce Ackerman]

An arrest has made in the hit-and-run death of a 66-year-old Ocala man who was found deceased on Maricamp Road (County Road 464) on July 23.

Erik Christian Neal Gillis, 25, of Ocala, was arrested by officers with the Florida Highway Patrol and was booked into the Marion County Jail on a charge of hit and run, and failure to stop and remain at a crash scene involving death, according to online jail records.

The jail records indicate Gillis was still being held as of July 31 on $25,000 bond.

According to an FHP press release on July 23, the victim, now identified by the FHP as Craig Forrest, was found by a passerby in a right turn lane on Maricamp Road just east of Bahia Road.

Forrest was walking within the westbound turn lane of County Road 464. The vehicle was traveling west within the westbound turn lane of County Road 464 and struck Forrest with its front section. The area was dark with no street lighting, the press release stated.