HANOVER, N.H. -
A candlelight vigil is being held tonight for a promising Dartmouth College graduate student who died Saturday morning.
Police say the 24 year old physics major was found lying in the middle of interstate 91 near Hartford, Vermont.
Police say when Mikhail Lomakin was in the middle of the road, three cars ran him over, killing him instantly. Police and an entire community are now searching for answers.
"I don't know how you replace a mind like Mike's, I don't know in what quantities they're available in the world," Spencer Hatch said.
Best friend and physics study partner, Spencer Hatch says 24 year old Mikhail Lomakin, who went by Mike, had a creative and beautiful way of looking at the world. Hatch is struggling to make sense of how someone with such a bright future ended up in a southbound lane of highway 91.
"The circumstances are odd to say the least and I don't understand it," Hatch said.
Friends of Mike say they were at a party for first year physics students. They say he rode his bike there, but left on foot, and of course one can speculate all day, but they do believe he was just walking home.
Police say Lomakin was hit by three cars, but only two drivers have come forward. They thought it was a dead animal in the road but as they got closer, realized it was a person, and were unable to avoid hitting him. One of Lomakin's professor's says he had dreams of doing something big.
"He was really passionate about studying space plasma physics, it's tragic and it's a real loss," Physics Professor Robert Caldwell said.
"Someone else will have to figure out the things that I'm sure Mike would have figured out with his natural ease," Hatch added.
Anyone who heard or saw anything suspicious on Saturday between 1 and 2:30 in the morning, near exits 14 and 11 are asked to call police.
