Byron Wilson
Byron Wilson, 34, was a man from Amarillo who was about 200 hours from finishing cosmetology school, and his brother Blanton said he was "on his way to get out and ready to move on." On January 14, 2015, he was among eight people held in Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody who died when a prison transport bus slid off Interstate 20 near Odessa and struck a freight train. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the bus lost control after striking damaged guardrail. His family wanted him buried near home in Haworth, Oklahoma, rather than in the state prison cemetery.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the NTSB attribute his death to a prison transport bus crash on Interstate 20 near Odessa on January 14, 2015, after the bus struck damaged guardrail and collided with a freight train.
Reported by: Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the agency that held him); National Transportation Safety Board (outside investigators); Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.
Custody: Serving a sentence.
Sources (5)
- Authorities Release Victim Names from West Texas Prison Bus Crash
- 10 dead when Texas prison bus skids off highway, hits train
- Custodial death report PA15013P
- “Don’t Ever Tell Us What You Saw”: The Story Behind The Deadliest Prison Bus Crash In Texas History
- NTSB: Prison bus hit damaged guardrail causing fatal 2015 crash