SMPD Releases Names Of Fatal Traffic Accident Victims

The San Marcos Police Department has confirmed contact with the next of kin and released the names of the two fatalities from the Nov. 14 accident on IH-35 southbound at the 204B Exit (CM Allen).

Orlando Valdez (08/13/1990), of Corpus Christi, was driving the 2014 Chevrolet Spark and Dana Watson (08/31/1998), of Orange Grove, was in the passenger seat when the vehicle was struck from behind by a 2007 Chevrolet dump truck.

SMPD reports the two were traveling home from an event in Austin.

The accident remains under investigation and SMPD is unavailable for comment.

Original Release

The San Marcos Police Department is investigating a major collision that occurred on IH-35 southbound at the 204B Exit (CM Allen) early this morning and resulted in two fatalities.

At approximately 2:45 AM on Thursday, Nov. 14, San Marcos Police, Fire, and Hays County EMS were dispatched to the incident, which involved a passenger vehicle that had been struck from behind by a 2007 Chevrolet dump truck.

The driver of the passenger vehicle was killed instantly. The passenger in the vehicle was transported to Central Texas Medical Center by Hays County EMS and pronounced deceased. Both were pronounced deceased by Justice of the Peace Jo Anne Prado. Names are being withheld until next of kin has been notified.

The driver of the truck, Isaac Fettig (09/13/1999) of Spencer, TN, was transported to Ascension Seton Hospital in Kyle by Hays County EMS with minor injuries.

Preliminary information suggests the passenger vehicle was either stopped or going slow in the far-right lane when the large dump truck collided into it. The 204B Exit was shut down for several hours and IH-35 southbound was shut down for about an hour while investigators worked the scene.

The collision is being investigated by the Collision Investigation Team of the San Marcos Police Department.

These are the 9^th and 10^th traffic fatalities in San Marcos for 2019.