Arrest made in connection with Sept. 19 F.M. 116 head-on collision
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A man was arrested on Thursday evening in connection with a Sept. 19 early morning head-on collision on F.M. 116 North just outside Copperas Cove.
According to Sgt. Bryan Washko with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Cody Ray Vaughn was arrested at approximately 7:50 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
The arrest out of Coryell County was for failure to stop and render aid in a collision involving death, a second-degree felony.
The Leader-Press obtained an arrest affidavit from the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office on Friday morning.
“Coryell County dispatch said the driver of a white GMC Acadia bearing Texas License Plate TGB0349 had ran away from the scene on foot after receiving help out of his vehicle by two males who stopped to render aid,” wrote Trooper Eric Woodruff with Texas DPS.
“The driver of the vehicle identified as Cody Ray Vaughn left the scene and climbed a barbed wire fence into a tree line during the night hours. The two males provided a description and a direction of travel to the first officers on scene. Vaughn ran from the scene at approximately 4:33 a.m. was captured by Coryell County Deputies and a Copperas Cove police officer at approximately 4:45 a.m. Vaughn received medical care from Copperas Cove Emergency Medical Services and was later transported to Advent Hospital in Killeen Texas.
“The males who assisted Vaughn from his vehicle said he smelled of alcoholic beverages before he fled the scene. Vaughn provided a voluntary blood specimen at the hospital.”
As of Sept. 23, the date of the affidavit, those results were pending.
Vaughn is in the Coryell County jail as of Friday morning and hadn't appeared yet before a judge.
According to Bell County court records, Vaughn, age 34, is facing a driving while intoxicated charge from January 2023 and had posted a $4,000 bond for that charge. Vaughn is scheduled for a plea appearance in Bell County court coming up on Oct. 3.
The Sept. 19 collision took place near the intersection of F.M. 116 and Lonesome Oak Road. According to the initial press release by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a 34-year-old male was driving a 2015 Acadia and traveling southbound on F.M. 116.
The driver of the GMC crossed into the northbound lane of travel, where Manuel Moreno, 42, was driving a 2020 Nissan Altima northbound, and the GMC collided head-on with his vehicle.
Moreno was killed upon impact and pronounced deceased by Justice of the Peace Bill Price.
Moreno, a member of the Copperas Cove High School class of 2001, was also a veteran of the United States Navy and the Army Reseves, and a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
A visitation is being held for Moreno on Friday, Sept. 27, from 6-8 p.m. at Crawford Bowers Funeral Home in Copperas Cove. Services will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28, with a graveside service to be held on Oct. 3 at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.