Weekend crashes leave two dead

By LPR Staff

Editor/POST-REGISTER

Lockhart is reeling this week after separate accidents over the holiday weekend claimed the lives of two young women.

LHS graduate Amber Robbins, 19, was killed in Seguin on Thursday evening.

Initial reports said the accident, which happened around 10 p.m., occurred when Robbins was traveling southbound through th

e intersection of Highway 46 and Highway 90 (W. Kingsbury Street) in Seguin. Robbins’ vehicle was struck by a Dodge pickup truck traveling west on Highway 90.

According to witnesses to the collision, the driver of the Dodge, who police declined to identify, may have run the red light at the intersection, making direct impact with Robbins’ vehicle on the driver’s side door.

Robbins was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other driver was transported to an area hospital for minor injuries.

Though the collision remains under investigation, sources with knowledge of that investigation suggest the driver of the Dodge pickup may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

According to her Facebook page, Robbins was working with a trainer to become a mixed martial arts fighter, and planning to return to Blinn College this month. She had been celebrating Christmas with her family prior to the crash. She was said to be traveling from Seguin to Gonzales.

On Saturday evening, just before the clock struck midnight, Lockhart resident Brittany Morales, 25, was killed in a one-vehicle collision just outside Fentress.

According to reports given by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Morales was driving a 2002 Mitsubishi westbound on FM 20 when her vehicle left the roadway and rolled over at least four times.

Two passengers, 23-year-old Rene Joshua Gutierrez, of New Braunfels, and another individual whom authorities have had difficulty identifying, were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled, and were transported to Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio with serious injuries.

Both remained hospitalized and in critical condition on Wednesday morning. It is likely that neither was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Morales, whose drivers license lists a Fannin Street address in Lockhart, was restrained in the vehicle, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although the investigation into the incident is incomplete and troopers believe that speed was a factor in the crash, they do not believe that alcohol was involved.

Services were held for Robbins on Tuesday afternoon. Services for Morales were held on Friday morning.