Tragedy on 84E | Free News

Two teens among three killed in wrong-way collision

Three people were pronounced dead — and countless people were devastated — after a horrific head-on collision on Highway 84 East at Magnolia Road early Saturday evening.

Joel Scott, 19, of Laurel was headed east on the highway and his girlfriend Autumn Letson, 17, of Waynesboro was a passenger in a 2019 Range Rover, just before the Bogue Homa Creek bridge, when the SUV was slammed into by a 2006 Ford F-150 driven by Carlos Jose Osorio Romero, 21, of Laurel, according to the report from the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

“My baby Joel was one of the brightest personalities you’ve ever met,” said his father Andy Scott, a beloved teacher at Northeast Jones Middle School. “He loved fiercely and big, and never met a stranger. He filled the room when he walked in. Everyone MOST definitely knew he was there. He was gonna let his presence be known. And his presence was. And is. And forevermore will be. And we are thankful.”

Letson was described as “a vibrant soul that loved the Lord and found beauty in all things, great or small,” according to her aunt Stephanie Horne, who set up a GoFundMe account to help the family with burial expenses.

Kenny Stogner, a volunteer firefighter from Sandersville, was westbound on Highway 84 on a motorcycle, desperately trying to get the attention of the pickup driver that was headed in the wrong direction. Cellphone video showed him just ahead of someone in another vehicle who filmed the crash. Powers volunteer firefighter Chasity Johnson was behind the Range Rover when the collision occurred, just after 6:30 p.m., but there was nothing that could have been done for the victims, officials said.

Both vehicles were engulfed in flames when volunteer firefighters from Glade, Powers, M&M, Sandersville and Rustin arrived, and they went to work extinguishing the burning mass of wreckage.

Deputy Coroner Don Sumrall pronounced the victims dead at the scene. EMServ Ambulance also responded along with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, MHP and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

No information about where the pickup got on the highway and if there had been reports about it headed in the wrong direction was available from officials before noon Monday. The only personal information that was available about Romero is that he worked for a roofer.

Initial reports from officials at the scene said that four people had been killed in the crash, but MHP — which is the agency in charge of the investigation — confirmed that there were three victims.

Tributes to Scott and Letson have flooded social media since the crash.

The week ended just as it began — with local tragedies involving teenagers.

On Monday night, pregnant 16-year-old Alisha McLemore of Mize was shot and killed at a residence on North 2nd Avenue in Laurel, but her baby was delivered and reportedly in good condition. Tavaris Atwood, 18, of Taylorsville was charged with murder. Also on Monday night, a 17-year-old Powers boy was arrested and charged with stabbing his father at a residence on Dry Swamp Road.

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