WATERFORD — Police were looking Monday for the driver of a truck that was ripped in half when it slammed into a large maple tree beside Hunts Corner Road on Sunday night.

“Whoever was driving that truck, they cheated death,” Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy William “Willie” Nelson said Monday night. The bed of the 2008 Chevrolet Silverado was ripped off and the drive shaft and spare tire were hurled some distance away, he said.

The truck was being driven north when it veered off the road and struck the tree. And the unidentified driver took off running soon after impact, Nelson said a homeowner at the scene told police.

The owner of the pickup was identified as Adam Hall, who lives about 50 yards north of the scene on Hunts Corner Road, Nelson said. The deputy and Maine State Police Trooper Tom Welch went to Hall’s home Sunday night after the 9 p.m. crash but “no one came to the door,” he said.

Nelson said when he returned to Hall’s house Monday, Hall told him he had been home all night and woke Monday at 5 a.m. to discover his truck stolen. Hall said the truck was paid for and he had recently removed all insurance coverage except liability, Nelson said.

Blood evidence was taken from the truck and will be sent to the state crime lab in Augusta, along with a DNA swab that Hall consented to have taken from him, Nelson said.