The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office is asking the public for help identifying a witness to a hit-and-run collision near Lake Samish that killed Cole Hilton, a local business owner who was training for the Tour de Whatcom when he was struck on July 11. Investigators believe Hilton was hit by a vehicle, and security camera footage shows a second cyclist who may have been nearby when the collision occurred. The case has been assigned number 26A24488, and the sheriff's office is accepting tips through a dedicated tip line.
What Happened on July 11
At approximately 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, multiple Whatcom County Sheriff's deputies responded to the area of North Lake Samish Drive and Prescott Lane after a report of an injured and unconscious bicyclist lying alongside the road. Fire and EMS crews were already on scene when deputies arrived. The victim was transported to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, the county's primary trauma facility.
Hilton's wife, Linda Hilton, confirmed in a social media post that her husband was the victim and that he later died from his injuries. She said investigators believe he was struck by a vehicle. The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office subsequently confirmed Hilton's death and opened a formal investigation into the collision, assigning it case number 26A24488. Public information officer Deb Slater provided information about the investigation to local media.
Cole Hilton owned Whatcom Gutter and Construction, a local business in Whatcom County. He was on a training ride for the Tour de Whatcom, a major annual cycling event that draws hundreds of participants to roads throughout the county. The Tour de Whatcom covers a range of distances across Whatcom County's rural road network, and North Lake Samish Drive is a corridor frequently used by cyclists training for endurance events because of its relatively low traffic volume and scenic character along the eastern shore of Lake Samish. The loss of someone actively preparing for a community cycling event has made the case particularly resonant among local cyclists and the broader community.
The Search for a Witness
Security footage from local businesses along the route shows a second bicyclist traveling in the same direction as Hilton in the moments before the collision. The cyclist appears to be wearing a red cycling shirt and helmet. The sheriff's office is not treating this person as a suspect but believes they may have information that could help investigators reconstruct what happened in the moments before or during the incident. Even partial information about road conditions, traffic, or anything unusual the second cyclist may have observed could be meaningful to detectives working to piece together the sequence of events.
Deputies from the Criminal Scene Investigation unit and the Traffic Unit responded to analyze the scene after the initial response. The involvement of both units reflects the seriousness with which the sheriff's office is treating the case. The investigation is ongoing, and the sheriff's office has not publicly disclosed all of the circumstances it is investigating, including the identity or description of the vehicle believed to have struck Hilton. In hit-and-run cases involving cyclists, investigators often rely heavily on physical evidence from the scene, witness accounts, and camera footage to identify the responsible vehicle, since the driver's departure means there is no immediate on-scene documentation of the vehicle involved.
Linda Hilton's family is separately asking anyone in the North Samish Road and East Lake Samish area who has dashboard camera or doorbell camera footage from around 1:40 p.m. on July 11 to share that footage with investigators. The proliferation of home security cameras and dashboard cameras in recent years has become an increasingly important investigative tool in cases like this one, where a vehicle passed through a residential or semi-rural area without stopping. Even footage that does not appear to show the collision directly could help establish a timeline of vehicle and cyclist traffic in the area and potentially identify a vehicle that was in the vicinity at the relevant time.
How to Share Information
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office tip line at 360-778-6663 and reference case number 26A24488. The tip line accepts anonymous calls, which means people who are uncertain about what they saw or who are hesitant to become formally involved in the investigation can still pass along information without identifying themselves. Investigators can then evaluate the information and follow up through other means if it proves useful.
The North Lake Samish area, where the collision occurred, sits along the eastern edge of Lake Samish south of Bellingham, a popular recreational corridor for cyclists, hikers, and water sports enthusiasts. The road runs through a mix of residential properties and undeveloped shoreline, with limited traffic infrastructure in some sections. Vehicle speeds on the road can be significant, and the combination of cyclists and motor vehicles on narrow shoulders has been a concern among local cycling advocates for years. The area draws heavy recreational traffic on summer weekends, which means there is a reasonable chance that other vehicles or cyclists were nearby at the time of the collision.
The Tour de Whatcom, which Hilton was training for when he was struck, is typically held in late summer and raises money for charitable causes while celebrating cycling in Whatcom County. His death has been a significant loss for the local cycling community and for the business community in which he was active. Earlier coverage of this year's Tour de Whatcom described hundreds of cyclists using county roads for the event. The security footage of the second cyclist is available to view and may help someone identify the witness and encourage them to come forward.
