20-year-old Evan McKellar is in the ICU in critical condition.
FORT WORTH, Texas — DPS, in an update to WFAA, confirmed five people were killed in the Saturday collision on I-20 in Kaufman County, where a big rig driver is accused of falling asleep. Four of those victims are from the same Fort Worth family.
A photo released by the McKellar family shows Zabar, his wife Krishaun, their 15-year-old son, Kason, and 20-year-old daughter, Evan, hand-in-hand on the beach, all smiles for a family photo shoot.
The family tells us that Evan, now in ICU at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, is the only survivor in their immediate family from the I-20 crash in Kaufman County on Saturday. Billy McKellar, Zabar McKellar’s father, was also killed.
A fifth fatality in a separate vehicle has not yet been identified by DPS.
A certified GoFundMe account has been set up for Evan’s medical expenses.
“This unimaginable tragedy has deeply touched the hearts of many, and we are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming love, prayers, and support shown during this time,” a family member wrote in the GoFundMe campaign. “So many have reached out asking how they can help or give back to the family in this moment of sorrow.”
The driver of the big rig, 27-year-old Alexis Osmani Gonzalez-Companioni, was arrested Saturday and charged with five counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. DPS says the driver fell asleep at the wheel and, at high speed, plowed into the McKellars’ vehicle and several others in a crash that authorities describe as “horrific.”
WFAA Investigates has confirmed the trucking company involved is Hope Trans LLC, based in Tacoma, Washington – a company with a pattern of drivers repeatedly cited for exceeding allowable hours on the road. Repeated attempts by WFAA to reach the owner of the company by phone and email have gone unanswered.
Investigators are expected to release additional information on the crash Wednesday morning.