It happened late Monday afternoon about two miles outside of Rockdale, along Highway 79. Terri Lynn Williams, 40, had just finished a car cleaning job and began to cross train tracks when a Union Pacific freight train smashed into her.
Inside her car were three young children in her legal care. According to the Department of Public Safety, none of them were in seat belts. As the week went on, none of them survived.
Investigators suspect that Williams was distracted, but do not know how she could have missed the site or sound of a train. According to a spokesperson for Union Pacific, the engineer saw the car in enough time to sound his horn.
The children were 4-year-old Keeyati Hancock and his 9-year-old brother Monterious Hancock, who friends called “Monty.” Also in the car was their cousin, 8-year-old Ahkeem Williams.
The older boys were in the second grade at Rockdale Elementary School, where their superintendent says they played T-ball and were in a pee-wee football league.
“The general feeling around here is that they were active and athletic and had a great interest in competition,” said Superintendent Howell Wright.
Inside the elementary school there is now a wall of pictures and handwritten notes from classmates.
“The boys are in a better place,” said family friend Cassidy Herring.
In the meantime, the engineer and conductor involved are also grieving. According to Union Pacific, they have been encouraged to participate in a peer support program.
Rockdale police say trains pass through their community every day, and that this is the second deadly crash to happen there in fifteen years. The last crash involved a high school student.
A spokesperson for the Scott and White hospital in Temple, where Terri Lyn Williams has been taken, says she is listed in “fair” condition.
