FERGUSON, Mo. — The day started out as another routine one for 61-year-old Willetter Anderson-Watson.
Her friends affectionately called her "Smiley."
"They called her that because she smiled all the time. She was so sweet, humble and kept to herself," said Marissa Jackson, a friend.
"Smiley was a person who would go out of her way to do anything for anybody. She was very kindhearted," said Marjorie Jackson, Anderson-Watson's longtime friend and roommate.
Marjorie said her friend left their home around 5 a.m. Wednesday and walked down Woodstock Road to a bus stop on south Florissant Road in Ferguson.
Willetter was on her way to work at a McDonald's in Hazelwood at the time.
"She took the same route to work every morning," said Marissa Jackson.
However, this morning, Anderson-Watson never made it.
Police said shortly before six a driver was turning left from Woodstock onto South Florissant when she hit Anderson-Watson.
Investigators said the driver stopped to check on the injured woman as she lay on the ground, but then a maroon crossover SUV struck the Ferguson grandmother, killing her.
The SUV driver sped off.
Anderson-Watson had two kids and a baby granddaughter.
"I'm just numb. It just hit me. I mean, I wasn't expecting to find out on social media that my mother passed. I'm still in shock, " the woman's daughter, Cassie Anderson, said.
"It's just unfair. No one is supposed to die like that. After the first car hit her OK, maybe she could have lived. Maybe she had a chance and it's like somebody else just came along and took that away from her. Yes, I'm mad," said Marissa Jackson.
Right now, police do not have a description of the SUV driver they're looking for.
Investigators are asking anyone who may have surveillance or cellphone video of the hit-and-run scene to call the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Meanwhile, Anderson-Watson's loved ones have a message for the driver who took off.
"I'm just in disbelief. Maybe they will have some dignity and do the right thing," Marjorie Jackson said.
"That could have been your mom, your auntie, your sister. You need to turn yourself in," Marissa Jackson said.