NEWS
Three-vehicle accident kills 1, sends 4 to hospital
A Conroe man was killed and four others went to the hospital after a three-vehicle crash Sunday night south of Sunset on U.S. Highway 287.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Dan Buesing said the accident occurred around 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 11 on U.S. 287 south of Sunset.
The report states a 2011 Chevrolet 2500 pickup was driving south on the highway when for unknown reasons it crossed the center median and drove into northbound traffic. The pickup struck a 2018 Chevrolet on its driver’s side, then continued into the northbound lanes where it struck a Volvo truck trailer head-on.
Buesing said the 2011 pickup rolled and the passenger, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected. The driver, Benjamin Lee Schaeffer, 29, Conroe, was pronounced dead at the scene by Montague County Justice of the Peace Jack Pigg. He also was not wearing a seatbelt.
The passenger, Mariah Helmberger, 26, Conroe, was airlifted to John Peter Smith hospital with serious injuries. As of Thursday, her medical status was unavailable.
Sgt. Buesing said the driver and the passenger of the 2018 Chevy pickup, Jeremy Gray, Cantu, OK and a female, age 11, were transported to Wise Regional Health, where they were treated and released.
The driver of the 2016 Volvo truck-trailer, Alejandro Rios, Haltom City, also was transported to Wise Regional Hospital, where he was treated and released.
All three occupants of the 2018 Chevy and the Volvo truck-trailer wore their seatbelts, according to Sgt. Buesing. The crash is still under investigation.
The Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on June 23.
The agenda includes both old and new business items.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his report on the 2026-27 budget process, bid opening for the Glenn Hills lift station on July 16 and the bid for Rock and Pillar repairs.
In new business a pair of planning and zoning committee recommendations for replats at 107 E. Nelson and 412 Green will be reviewed. An ordinance adopting an office of emergency management amending a present ordinance will be offered.
Old business will see the second reading of the pickleball court reservation fee ordinance and the ordinance prohibiting drilling and mining or the reopening of an abandoned well or mine in any public park in the city limits.
A HEAT ADVISORY will be in effect from noon until 9 p.m. today (Thursday). Please plan accordingly.
Hear Audio Alert:https://hrpow.us/oeFZANN
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas has confirmed human skeletal remains were recovered on June 13 in the Sunset area, and they could possibly be those of a flight attendant believed to have been murdered almost a year ago in the Fort Worth.
The murder suspect, Dennis William Day, 66, admitted in June 2025 to strangling Rana Soluri, 47, an Envoy flight attendant who lived with Day during that last year. She was reported missing by a co-worker on June 11 and had not been seen or heard from since March 2025.
Day initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to the murder and indicated he dumped her body somewhere in the Montague County area. Lawmen have scoured the areas in questions in both Montague and Wise County, but found nothing.
Sheriff Thomas said on June 13 the SO received a call of possible skeletal remains in the Brushy Creek area north of Poss Dyer Lane on Farm-to-Market 1749. A deputy went to the scene and confirmed it was human remains.
Investigators responded and kept the scene secure overnight until staff from the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Center could arrive and made the recovery on June 14. A Texas Ranger and staff from the Fort Worth Police Department also were on scene.
“There is no determination made yet on how long it has been there,” said Thomas. “The anthropologist was pleased to recover most of the skeleton in these conditions. Heavy rains previously made the past searches difficult. We are working jointly with Fort Worth to make an identification and if it is the victim in their homicide.”
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