From the Dallas Morning News....
Navy petty officer, young daughter killed in Roanoke crash
10:02 PM CST on Monday, January 28, 2008
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
debdennis@dallasnews.com
Joshua Adkison's parents wanted him closer to home.
The 24-year-old naval petty officer and Cleburne High School alum had served in Yemen and other far-off ports, said his mother, Lisa Adkison.
"He was still in the Navy, and he was changing jobs," the Grandview woman said Monday. "He had put in for a transfer, and he wound up getting to Corpus Christi. We were just thankful they were coming home."
But Mr. Adkison didn't make it home. On Sunday, he and his 2-year-old daughter, Madison, were killed about 9 p.m. in a head-on collision on Highway 377 in Roanoke.
Mr. Adkison's wife, Kristina, also 24, suffered internal bleeding and was in the intensive-care unit at John Peter Smith Hospital. Officials expect her to survive, and her condition was upgraded Monday from critical to serious.
Police said a car driven by a Southlake woman crossed into oncoming traffic and caused the crash. That woman, 29-year-old Rachele Bowman, died at the scene.
The driver of a third car involved in the smash-up, 47-year-old Jolene Owen of Haslet, was treated for minor injuries and released. She could not be reached Monday but left a message on her answering machine saying that she is feeling fine.
Mr. Adkison and his family lived in Virginia Beach, Va., and were in the process of moving to their new home just outside the Naval Air Station at Ingleside, where Mr. Adkison was recently transferred.
The Adkisons spent Sunday visiting Kristina's relatives in Denton County – she hails from Lake Dallas – a family friend said, but it was unclear late Monday where they were headed when the crash occurred.
Roanoke police Capt. Robert Crawford said the initial investigation showed Ms. Bowman was traveling south in the 2200 block of Highway 377, a two-lane road, when she tried to pass Ms. Owen and collided with the Adkisons' northbound car.
"This was passing in a no-passing zone," Capt. Crawford said. "We are trying to determine if speed was a factor."
Investigators are also checking whether alcohol may have played a role.
Lisa Adkison became emotional Monday as she talked about her son, his wife and their child.
"They were trying to find a place. They were just moving," Mrs. Adkison said, noting that their furniture was still somewhere between Virginia and South Texas. "He was just returning from deployment. We are in shock. We just don't know what to make of it."
Kenneth Clapp, education minister at Westhill Church of Christ in Cleburne, was with Kristina Adkison when she was told that her husband and daughter had been killed.
"The first thing she said was: 'We were wearing our seatbelts. We should all be OK.' But of course that is not the case," Mr. Clapp said. "It's all new right now. She was in and out of the anesthesia.
"She's a young lady with a whole lot to deal with."