MILWAUKEE — Five years after a driver fleeing police struck and killed 34-year-old Calob House near South 21st Street and West National Avenue, his father returned to the intersection where his son lost his life.
There have been no arrests. The driver has never been identified. The vehicle involved has never been recovered.
But new information obtained by TMJ4 shows the investigation, which was placed on inactive status in January 2025, was reopened nine months later following a tip.
For Calob's father, Kevin House, that means there may still be hope of finding the person responsible. But it does little to erase five years of grief and frustration.
"It's just, it's aggravating. It's aggravating and heartbreaking at the same time," Kevin said.
His greatest concern is what Calob's children have lost.
"You know, when you got a 5 year old telling, Grandpa, I miss my dad, you know, and I just, what do you say? You know, what do you say?" Kevin said.
WATCH: Five years after Milwaukee father killed during police chase, family pleads for answers as investigation reopens
A father, a family man and a future that never happened
Before he became the victim of an unsolved hit-and-run, Calob House was a son, father, carpenter and devoted Wisconsin sports fan.
Kevin remembers a man who was beginning to settle into adulthood, building a career and thinking about marriage and homeownership.
"Dad, I'm gonna marry Lisa, I wanna buy a house. I'm doing good at work," Kevin recalled his son telling him.
Calob had become a finish carpenter, and according to Kevin, he was saving money while working toward eventually purchasing a home.
He also loved cookouts, time with friends and cheering for the Milwaukee Brewers. His father remembers Calob attending Opening Day every year.
Now, those memories are especially difficult during baseball season.
Kevin said his son would have loved seeing the team's recent success.
But it's the milestones Calob never got to share with his children that hurt most.
"It's, it's a shame that the two of them couldn't have done their first fishing trip or first Brewers game or, you know, all those things that you miss out on now, both of them," Kevin said, referring to Calob and his young son.
Calob was raising four children, including a stepdaughter, Melanie, whom Kevin said he helped with schoolwork and treated as his own.
The family also remembers Calob as someone who brought people together.
Holiday gatherings often took place at his home. Kevin said those traditions changed after his son's death, and the family began traveling for holidays instead.
When asked what life has been like without Calob, his father described a world that feels smaller.
A walk home that ended in tragedy
On Oct. 6, 2021, Calob was walking home after an evening out celebrating his partner Lisa's birthday.
According to Kevin, his son had been drinking but chose to leave his truck behind rather than drive.
"He was walking back to the house," Kevin recalled.
Shortly after 1 a.m., West Allis police attempted to stop a driver for reckless driving near South 80th Street and National Avenue.
The driver refused to stop, leading officers on a pursuit eastbound toward Milwaukee.
The chase continued for several miles before reaching the area of South 21st Street and West National Avenue.
There, the fleeing driver struck Calob and continued driving.
Officers stopped the pursuit and rendered aid, but Calob died at the scene.
The driver escaped.
For Kevin, the fact that his son was walking home rather than driving after drinking makes the circumstances even more difficult to accept.
"He was doing the responsible thing, walking home from the bar, left his truck there, you know, we literally had to go pick his truck up the next day," he said.
A father questions why the pursuit continued
Five years later, Kevin has questions not only about the driver who struck his son, but also about the decisions made during the police pursuit.
The chase began near 80th Street and continued dozens of blocks into Milwaukee before the fatal collision.
Kevin questions whether officers should have called it off sooner, particularly before reaching an area where pedestrians and businesses remain active late at night.
"I think they should have. Yeah, it was for a reckless driving violation," he said.
Kevin acknowledges that police sometimes face difficult, split-second decisions, especially when pursuing people suspected of serious violent crimes.
But he believes a reckless-driving violation raises a different question about the risks to innocent people.
"Reckless driving turned into a death, I mean," he said.
The original TMJ4 investigation into the incident reported that West Allis police pursuit policy required officers to weigh factors including the seriousness of the offense, road conditions, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and risks to public safety.
That policy also included circumstances under which an officer was required to terminate a pursuit.
Kevin believes the pursuit that ended with his son's death deserves continued scrutiny.
His concerns are about whether the risks of continuing the chase outweighed the need to immediately stop the driver.
The available records do not establish that officers violated department policy.
Five years of frustration with investigators
Beyond his questions about the pursuit itself, Kevin says the years that followed have been marked by frustration over the investigation and communication with authorities.
He and other relatives have repeatedly sought updates.
"There's really no, there's really nothing there, you know, every time you call, they just act like you're a nuisance," Kevin said.
He said family members distributed flyers, visited junkyards and scrap yards, and offered their own reward in hopes of finding the vehicle or someone who recognized it.
"We had never heard nothing," he said.
Kevin also described receiving information from people who believed they might know something about the case. He expressed frustration with what he believes was a lack of follow-through on some potential leads.
Those are Kevin's accounts of his family's experience, not independently established findings about how every lead was handled.
For him, one of the most painful parts of the past five years has been wondering whether the investigation was still moving forward.
"We heard the same thing over and over and over again. No new leads, no nothing," he said.
New tip prompted detectives to reopen the investigation
TMJ4 requested an update from police about the status of the case, including whether a detective was still assigned and what evidence had been recovered.
According to the written police response provided to TMJ4:
- The investigation was placed on inactive status in January 2025.
- A tip prompted detectives to reopen the investigation in October 2025.
- A detective is currently working on the case.
- Neither the driver nor the vehicle's owner has been identified.
- The suspect vehicle has never been recovered.
- Milwaukee and West Allis police canvassed the area and pursuit route looking for surveillance footage.
Police did not provide details about the tip that led to the case being reopened or whether it had produced any new evidence.
They also did not establish whether investigators obtained usable surveillance video or whether forensic examination of the recovered vehicle parts had generated a new lead.
Despite the reopened investigation, no suspect or person of interest has been publicly identified.
For the House family, the reopening is a meaningful development. But they are still waiting for the most important answer: who was driving?
Police are still looking for a Nissan Altima
One of the most important clues in the case is the vehicle investigators believe struck Calob.
Authorities previously described it as a 2002–2006 Nissan Altima, a four-door sedan believed to be silver or tan, with tinted windows.
Police said the vehicle would likely have had significant damage to the passenger-side front end and a missing passenger-side mirror. Earlier descriptions also noted a missing right inner fender well.
The license plate remains unknown.
The vehicle has never been recovered, and investigators have not established whether it still exists.
The House family hopes someone remembers the car, where it went after the collision or who may have been driving that night.
'I'm making the plea not so much for myself'
During his interview with TMJ4, Kevin returned repeatedly to the people who continue to live with Calob's absence.
His son never had the chance to watch his children grow up, attend their important milestones or experience the ordinary moments that families often take for granted.
Kevin says those losses cannot be undone.
But identifying the driver could help Calob's children believe that someone can still be held accountable.
"You know, and I'm, I'm making the plea not so much for myself. I would appreciate that for his kids, that they know the system does work, that there is justice, you know, that they don't have to go through life knowing that this happened to their dad, and they got nothing," Kevin said.
He also has a message for whoever was behind the wheel.
"Where's your conscience? This was a human being, a good person," he said.
Kevin believes someone knows what happened — whether it was a passenger, a friend, someone who saw the damaged Nissan or someone who heard a story about the crash afterward.
"Um, somebody out there knows something," he said.
For a family that has waited five years, even one credible tip could make a difference.
HOW TO HELP: Do you know what happened to Calob House?
Calob House was killed around 1:10 a.m. on October 6, 2021, near South 21st Street and West National Avenue in Milwaukee.
Investigators are seeking information about the driver and the Nissan Altima involved in the fatal hit-and-run.
Anyone who remembers seeing a heavily damaged silver or tan Nissan Altima around that time, knows who may have been driving it, or has other information is encouraged to contact authorities.
Milwaukee Police Department: 414-935-7360
Milwaukee Crime Stoppers (anonymous): 414-224-TIPS (8477)
West Allis–West Milwaukee Crime Stoppers (anonymous): 414-476-CASH
Tips can also be submitted through the applicable Crime Stoppers service.
No arrest has been announced, but the investigation has been reopened and a detective is working the case.
Kevin and his family are hoping renewed public attention reaches the one person who can help answer the question they've carried for five years: Who killed Calob House?
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