Driver in Sept. 19 fatality on F.M. 116 North re-arrested, this time for intoxication manslaughter

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Cody Ray Vaughan, the driver of a vehicle involved in a Sept. 19 fatality on F.M. 116 north of Copperas Cove is back in the Coryell County Jail as of Monday, Oct. 21.

Vaughan was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 19 and has a bond of $150,000 for intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle.

Vaughan had already been out of jail on a $50,000 bond for failure to stop and render aid in a collision involving death, for the same incident.

The Leader-Press obtained the Texas DPS crash report, and an updated supplement received Monday afternoon shows that Vaughan’s blood alcohol content test returned on Oct. 11 at 0.32.

Vaughan had voluntarily given a blood sample when he was seen at AdventHealth after the crash.

The Sept. 19 collision took place near the intersection of F.M. 116 and Lonesome Oak Road north of Copperas Cove.

Vaughan was driving a 2015 Acadia, traveling southbound on F.M. 116. He crossed into the northbound lane, where Manuel Moreno, 42, was driving a 2020 Nissan Altima.

The GMC collided head-on with Moreno’s vehicle. Moreno was killed upon impact and pronounced deceased by Justice of the Peace Bill Price.

According to the arrest affidavit, Vaughan fled on foot after receiving help from the vehicle by two males who stopped to render aid. At that time, the males who assisted Vaughn said he smelled of alcoholic beverages before he fled the scene.

He was then apprehended a short time later by Coryell County Deputies and a Copperas Cove police officer.

Vaughan was scheduled for an Oct. 3 plea appearance in Bell County for driving while intoxicated charges from January 2023. He was previously out on bond for that charge as well.

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.