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RUFFIN — Nervously, the clerks recounted, the driver walked into  French’s Corner Country Store and Grill for a pack of cigarettes and a cup of ice. That’s when they noticed the silver Dodge Durango.

“What in the world happened to your windshield?” store owner  Patsy French asked the disheveled woman who pulled into the store parking lot about 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26.

The woman said she “hit a deer,” went back to look and “couldn’t find one,” according to search warrants  in the hit-and-run death of cyclist  David Sherman of Summerfield.

To the store clerks, that story was so hard to believe that  it led state troopers to the Eden doorstep of  Grayson Dawson, 48, who was charged Monday with felony hit-and-run and death by motor vehicle.

Dawson’s attorney,  Locke Clifford, declined a request for an interview Tuesday.

Initially, investigators had few leads to the driver who  left bicyclist Sherman dying of massive head trauma on the side of Church Street in Guilford County at 5:41 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.

But the following Monday morning, when Dawson pulled into French’s store,  Allison Hundley was working. Hundley remembered that the hit-and-run involved a silver Durango. She called her husband, a volunteer firefighter, and told him about the Durango.

“Mrs. Hundley stated that the windshield on the driver side was 'caved in,’” the search warrant said.

French would tell investigators she was “amazed” that Dawson was able to drive the Durango with so much damage. She said the driver was “acting nervous about the wreck.”

“The operator told Mrs. French she had hit a deer before and her husband was upset with her,” the warrant said. “She was worried he would fuss at her for hitting another deer this time, but he was not as upset with her this time.”

After Hundley’s husband contacted state troopers with Dawson’s tag number, investigators began comparing the clerks’ descriptions to an eyewitness report of the hit-and-run vehicle.

By 12:15 p.m., three hours after Dawson stopped at the store, troopers were in her driveway at  702 Moir Mill Road in Eden. They found a silver 1998 Durango, parked.

Trooper  M.D. Marshall wrote that it had a crushed left headlight, left bumper and left fender, wrinkled hood, partly deflated tire, and a broken side mirror spattered with blood.

“Blood and hair are embedded in the windshield,” the warrant said, “and embedded in the broken glass which does not appear to be consistent with deer hair.”

A Rockingham County deputy and Trooper Marshall knocked on the door. Dawson answered.

“I am so sorry. I really thought I hit a deer,” she said, according to the warrant. “I stopped to see if (there were) any deer. There were no deer there.”

Dawson, who was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond, also was charged with driving left of center and driving while her license was revoked.

Staff writer Ryan Seals contributed to this report.

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com