Michael Sewart
Michael Sewart, 25, was one of eight people held in Texas state prison custody who died on January 14, 2015, when a Texas Department of Criminal Justice transport bus slid down an embankment on Interstate 20 near Odessa and crashed into a passing freight train. The bus was traveling from the Middleton Unit in Abilene to the Sanchez Unit in El Paso. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the bus lost control after striking damaged guardrail, while the Ector County Sheriff's office attributed the crash to an icy road. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice released the names of those killed.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Ector County Sheriff said the prison bus skidded on ice, slid down an embankment and struck a passing freight train, and the NTSB found the bus lost control after striking damaged guardrail.
Reported by: Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the agency that held them); Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson (the agency that held them); National Transportation Safety Board (outside investigators).
Custody: Serving a sentence.