Mississippi Highway Patrol and Louisiana State Police officialsare searching for a vehicle that may have been involved in a fatalhit-and-run accident in Louisiana Monday.

Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, LSP officials reported that an unknownblack sport utility vehicle was traveling north on Interstate 55when it veered off the road to the left, overcorrected, and cameback into the interstate, colliding with a 2008 Ford Focus drivenby Carl J. Vorenkamp, 53, of Hammond, La.

The collision forced Vorenkamp off the road and across the serviceroad that ran alongside it. His vehicle flipped and then collidedwith a parked dump truck. The Focus came to rest upside down in aditch, and the black SUV fled the scene, continuing north onI-55.

Vorenkamp was pronounced dead on the scene, and his wife, CarrieVorenkamp, 56, who was ejected from the vehicle, was pronounceddead at North Oaks Hospital shortly thereafter.

MHP Troop M Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Rusty Boyd said officialsbelieve the SUV could potentially have been driven by someone fromMississippi who was returning from the Strawberry Festival inPonchatoula, La.

“They were monitoring the traffic on 55 northbound during theStrawberry Festival, and most of the traffic during that timeperiod were northbound, Mississippi registered vehicles,” Boydsaid. “This vehicle could be someone from this area that hadattended the Strawberry Festival and had gone home.”

Officials said the hit and run vehicle is described by a witness asan older model black Cadillac SUV with damage to its rightpassenger side. Witnesses were not able to describe the driver ortell if it was a man or a woman, Boyd said.

“I think … there was no doubt this individual knew that he wasinvolved, there will be damage to the right side of the vehicle,”he said. “From what I gather, they felt that the driver did knowthat it happened.”

Boyd said anyone with information on the SUV is urged to call MHPat 601-833-7811 or LSP at 985-893-6250.

“Be on the lookout, if they do see a vehicle with that kind ofdamage that appeared to be caused in a recent collision, give us acall and we’ll go check them out,” he said.