Oct. 1, 2008--A tire blowout caused a one-vehicle accident that killed a man Tuesday in Beckham County.  John Concepcion Martinez, 35, was killed in the crash about 7:20 p.m. on the business loop of Interstate 40 near Elk City, according to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol accident report.  Martinez was driving a pickup truck when the tire blew out and he lost control, the report states. The truck crossed the median and went into the westbound lanes before coming to rest on its top.  Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene from head injuries. His partner, 43-year-old Delia Debano of Sayre, was flown to Oklahoma City's OU Medical Center in serious condition.  The couple's 8-year-old daughter was taken to an area hospital with arm injuries.  All three were wearing seatbelts, troopers reported.
Credit: Tulsa World, Okla.

Dec. 4, 2007--Two boys were killed Tuesday morning when their family's SUV ran off the road in Beckham County.  Darian Hernandez, 9, and Dylan Hernandez, 8, both of Aurora, Ill., died in the crash that occurred about 4 a.m. on Interstate 40 near Sayre, according to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol accident report.  Troopers say the boys' father, Leonel Hernandez, fell asleep while driving, causing the vehicle to run off the road and roll twice. The father and another son are in critical condition after being flown to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo.  Another son was flown to Oklahoma City's Presbyterian Hospital, where he is in stable condition. The boys' mother was not injured.  Leonel Hernandez was the only occupant wearing a seatbelt, according to the report. The other four were ejected during the accident.

Jan. 17, 2007--ELK CITY -- Riders in a minivan that crashed during the recent ice storm -- a wreck that killed seven people -- were illegal immigrants from Mexico being taken to North Carolina, an immigration official confirmed Tuesday.  "This was a smuggling operation," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's regional office in Dallas. "Right now, we're in the process of determining whether or not this was part of a bigger smuggling ring."  Six passengers and the driver were killed about 3:50 a.m. Sunday after the van slid across the median and spun into an oncoming tractor-trailer going west on Interstate 40 near Elk City. All seven victims were thrown from the vehicle.  Driver Miguel Marquez-Vargas, 32, and Francisco Marquez-Vargas, 19, of Acaxochitlan, Mexico, were among those found dead at the scene. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is withholding the names of the five other victims until next of kin can be notified -- a process that "could take weeks," patrol Lt. Pete Norwood said.  Eleven of the van's 12 occupants have been identified, Rusnok said.  Truck driver Donald Ray Reeves, 54, of Midwest City was unharmed.  Agents later learned the occupants of the van were headed for Durham, N.C., presumably to find work.  Agents were notified of the possible smuggling operation by Oklahoma troopers roughly three hours after the wreck, Rusnok said.  At least one survivor -- Pedro Valdez, 56, of Mexico -- was taken into custody by federal agents Sunday after being released from the Great Plains Medical Center in Elk City. He was held at the Beckham County jail in Sayre, where Rusnok said he awaits deportation.  "If it is determined that he has no criminal history in the United States, then I would imagine he'll be sent back to Mexico right away," Rusnok said.  Two other survivors -- Mexican nationals Sergio Yanez-Martinez and Mitxi Vasquez -- were released from the hospital Monday, Great Plains spokesman Stephen Ryhmer said. Their whereabouts are unknown.  Gaudencio P. Perez, 17, of Mexico and Eurencio V. Gonzales, 20, of Durham, N.C., remained in the hospital with injuries.  Both have been identified as Mexican nationals.
Credit: The Daily Oklahoman

Feb. 12, 2005--When Florella Bashaw saw two lawmen walking to her door Wednesday in Elk City, Okla., she knew why they were there. The bullet-riddled body found nearly three decades ago in Denton County was her daughter's. The long wait was over.  "I had been really, really hoping that wasn't why they were here," Bashaw said in a phone interview, taking a deep breath. "I was hoping that some day, we could be together again. It was not satisfying."  On Tuesday, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office positively identified the body of Melva Lynn Hudgens of Elk City. She had been classified as a Jane Doe after being found in April 1978 in a creek bed on Farm Road 156 north of Krum in North Texas.  The 18-year-old high school senior had been shot seven times with a .38-caliber weapon, officials said.  Because her body had not been identified, authorities buried Hudgens in a pauper's grave in Oakwood Cemetery in Denton.  Through the years, Bashaw refused to let the investigation die. In September 2003, she persuaded local sheriff's deputies to reopen the case. The original case folder was lost, so they started a new one, said Undersheriff Donnie Smith of the Beckham County Sheriff's Office, which serves Elk City.  At Bashaw's request, officers also put information on the Web site www.doenetwork.us, a volunteer group that helps law enforcement agencies solve cold cases involving missing people and unidentified victims.  That was the turning point.  Last October, Don Britt and Allen Gibson, investigators with the Denton County Sheriff's Department, learned of the Web site through a newspaper article about a Washington State Patrol detective who solved an 11-year-old missing-person case using the Web site.  "If it wasn't for this site, I would never have known who she is," Britt said.  Gibson and Britt, who had reopened the case in Texas four years ago, combed through the site until they found information that pointed to Hudgens.  Britt contacted the Beckham County Sheriff's Office. Hudgens' mother and sister looked at photographs taken when the body was found and believed that they had found Hudgens. Britt then requested DNA testing.  Forensic identification was completed Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Smith and Britt went to Bashaw's home to tell her.  "She didn't break down, but you could tell she was upset," Smith said. "At the same time, it looked like it gave her relief -- because she had been searching nearly 30 years."  According to the Web site information submitted by Beckham County officials, Hudgens was traveling with two friends on U.S. 66 in Oklahoma and had car trouble. Hudgens accepted a ride to town from two men in a green vehicle with Missouri license plates. The friends stayed behind, the Web site said.  At a news conference Friday in Denton, Britt said that having an identification could be the break they need to solve the slaying.  "This is a 27-year-old case, but it's a brand new investigation now and we're approaching it from that standpoint," he said.  Hudgens' mother, meanwhile, is hoping that media attention will help turn up more information about what happened to her daughter.  Bashaw remembers her daughter as a creative young woman who made her own clothes and wanted to become a dressmaker.  "She must have got that from me because I made her clothes when she was little," Bashaw said. "I still have all the ribbons she won."
Credit: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Jun 17, 2003
A Boise City woman died Monday after an accident in Cimarron County, and Sunday collisions led to the deaths of a Tonkawa man and a Sayre man and woman.  Dead are Margarita Rodriguez, 36, of Boise City; Clarence Daniel Largent, 25, of Tonkawa; and Oscar Ray McCreary, 78, and Ruth Viola McCreary, 74, both of Sayre.  Rodriguez was driving a 1999 Chevrolet pickup on U.S. 56 east of Keyes in Cimarron County early Monday when she went left of center and then overcorrected.  The pickup slid back across the road and rolled at least three times, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.  She was taken to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Troopers said she had not been wearing a seat belt and was ejected.  Largent was driving a 1995 GMC pickup on a Kay County road Sunday afternoon when his pickup struck the trailer of an oncoming pickup, the OHP reported.  A combine on the trailer fell off and struck the cab of Largent's pickup, troopers said.  He was pinned in the pickup for more than two hours and was pronounced dead at the scene.  Troopers said he had not been wearing a seat belt.  The other driver reportedly was not injured. Troopers said he had been wearing a seat belt.  Oscar and Ruth McCreary were both pronounced dead at a hospital after the 2001 Chrysler he had been driving Sunday afternoon on a Beckham County road was struck by an oncoming sport utility vehicle after Oscar McCreary failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Oklahoma 34, the OHP reported.  Troopers said Ruth McCreary had been wearing a seat belt but that Oscar McCreary had not.  The other driver was taken to an area hospital, where he was treated for a broken ankle.  Troopers said he had been wearing a seat belt.
Source: Tulsa World. Tulsa, Okla.: Jun 17, 2003.  pg. A.14

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