NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Investigators with the Florida Highway Patrol were back on the scene of a deadly crash Monday as they tried to find out who ran a New Smyrna Beach police officer off the road and never stopped. Adding insult to injury, police said someone vandalized the makeshift memorial to Officer Roy Nelson, Jr. overnight.

Just when Nelson's comrades thought their grief couldn't get any worse, it turned to anger Monday morning when they learned someone had walked away with a piece of the memorial they worked so hard to build.

Nelson's colleagues are now using a staple gun to secure his ever-growing roadside memorial after they discovered a Volusia County K-9 badge left in his memory had been stolen overnight. One sergeant called it a slap in the face to a department that's still very much in shock over its first-ever death in the line of duty.

"We've never experienced this. I don't know. It's gonna be one day at a time for every one of us," said Sgt. Mike Brouillette, New Smyrna Beach Police Department.

Nelson and his police dog Caesar were heading onto the mainland on the city's south causeway late Saturday night, responding to a burglary in progress, when eyewitnesses said a pickup truck turned into his pat, sending him out of control and off the road. Neither the officer nor the K-9 survived.

"Your heart is broken. It's not easy, it's not easy," said friend Donna DeGraff.

Like many local cops, Nelson was a regular at the Pappas Drive Inn, a few blocks from police headquarters. It was there, just the other day, when Donna Walsh saw him for the last time.

He ordered the regular, right down to the chocolate milk, and then he talked about his daughters, ages two and 13, and his other child, his K-9 Caesar, who went home with him every day.

"He said his kids really loved him and he was part of the family," Walsh said.

The Highway Patrol has taken over the crash investigation and, because the cars didn't actually collide, they're calling this a non-contact hit and run and are looking for a white pickup truck, possibly a late '90s model Ford F-150.

However, because the truck had been traveling in the opposite direction from where the police car went off the road, troopers said it's possible the driver has no idea there even was a crash. They're asking him or her to step forward and take responsibility.

Many of the officers who were closest with Nelson have been given leave. Outside agencies, including a K-9 unit from Volusia County, are filling in for the husband and father of two girls.

Arrangements have been made for Nelson's funeral. The service will be held on Friday at the Coronado United Methodist Church in New Smyrna Beach beginning at 11 in the morning. The service will be followed by internment at the Sea Pines Memorial Gardens.