The man killed in the single vehicle crash that closed Veterans Parkway in Cape Coral on Sunday has been identified by his family and friends as Gio Valia, aged 23, two days after police released a death with no name attached to it

The man killed in the single vehicle crash that closed Veterans Parkway in Cape Coral on Sunday has been identified by his family and friends as Gio Valia. They say he was 23.

WINK News, in a report bylined Jillian Haggerty and stamped nine minutes past ten on Monday night, carries the identification and tributes from a close friend and a cousin. It states that the crash happened near the median along Veterans Parkway and Southwest 20th Avenue on Sunday morning, that details are limited, and that Cape Coral police say it remains under investigation.

Where the name comes from

This is a family identification, reported by a newsroom. It is not a release by the Cape Coral Police Department.

Every previous item this site ran on the crash said in terms that nobody had been named, and that is the gap this report closes. The department has still not published a name, an age, a home town or a description of the vehicle. Its news page returns a 404, and the city news list, read again on this run, carries no release on the crash at all.

A family frequently speaks before an agency does, and this is very likely right. It is still worth knowing that the name reaches you through the people who loved him rather than through a record. Anyone who needs the official position should go to the Cape Coral Police Department rather than to a news item.

What has not been established

No cause. The report states that details are limited and that the investigation is continuing.

Nothing here attributes fault or conduct to anyone. That covers the witness account this site carried on Sunday evening and it covers a friend's remark about safe driving in this report. Those are a bystander's recollection and a grieving friend's reflection. Neither is a finding by anyone who investigated, and a crash involving one vehicle carries no implication about a driver on its own.

The tributes

Sophia Gallina, described as a close friend, created a memorial for him at the site.

"He was full of life. He was really special. He was just like a one of a kind type of person. He was really funny. His smile was like my most one of the favorite things I love about him. Beautiful smile," she told the outlet. She said it is hard to go home and not see his car there any more.

His cousin Christina Webb said he stayed by her side while she recovered from a traumatic brain injury, encouraging her to keep going.

"He never would fail anybody. He was always going for the party. He never stopped going, even if he did fail. Like I just said, he just kept going and going. He, he had the greatest soul. He loved soccer. He loved his family. He loved God," Webb said.

The family and friends say they will keep coming back to the memorial.

Two details that do not line up

The location in this report reads differently from what this site has carried since Sunday, and it is the same place. Earlier coverage put the crash near Chiquita Boulevard. This report puts it near the median at Southwest 20th Avenue. Those are the two ends of one stretch across the south of Cape Coral.

The timing is still unreconciled. A witness quoted on Sunday evening described calling 911 at 10.55, the outlets covering it have framed the crash as overnight, and this report frames it as Sunday morning. Nothing published since settles the three, so this brief does not either.

Veterans Parkway reopened on Sunday and has stayed open.