Man arrested for Sept. 19 head-on fatality collision on F.M. 116 out on bond
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Cody Ray Vaughan is out on a $50,000 bond after his Sept. 26 arrest for failure to stop and render aid in a collision involving death.
The Sept. 19 collision took place near the intersection of F.M. 116 and Lonesome Oak Road. According to the 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.
In that collision, according to the arrest affidavit, the driver of a white GMC Acadia bearing Texas License Plate TGB0349 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, and 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.”
Vaughan is also facing driving while intoxicated charges from January 2023 in Bell County and was scheduled for a plea appearance in Bell County court on Oct. 3.
“Coryell County dispatch said 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. In addition, the vehicle Vaughan was driving had expired registration and no insurance, according to the DPS crash report.
Manuel Moreno was a member of the Copperas Cove High School class of 2001, a veteran of the United States Navy and the Army Reserves, and was working as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
“My son, Manuel was the one killed that day, he was just going to work as usual. Our whole world has been shattered,” said Lisa Moreno. “The man who did this has prior DUIs, is going to court soon for his last one in Bell County and yet the JP here in Coryell County gives him a low bond of $50,000, which he only needed $5,000 to get bonded out and he did.
“I am so hurt and angry. My son is worth so much more and his bond should have been so much more. I don’t and will never understand. Let’s all pray that he won’t drive impaired while he’s out and kill someone else. They forgot to mention the vehicle he was driving had no insurance. My son did not deserve this. He was a kind, caring, lovable person. My heart is so broken.”