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News Boat hits bridge pylon
Woman suffers brain trauma, remains in
critical condition
Monitor Staff Reports
SEVEN POINTS–A Eustace woman is in critical condition following
a boating collision in the wee hours of the morning Sunday.
Tiffany Wheeler, 30, employed with Chili’s in Gun Barrel City,
was airlifted to the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, a Level
1 Trauma Center, after the boat she was in struck a pylon on a
bridge between 2 and 3 a.m.
The bridge is on State Highway 334 between Gun Barrel City and
Seven Points, closest to Gun Barrel City, according to the game
warden.
A family source said, Wheeler has been diagnosed with a brain
shear injury, the kind often seen in car accidents after
high-speed stops, and results from the brain bouncing violently
against the wall of the skull.
“She’s not doing so good,” a relative told The Monitor.
According to a spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Game
Wardens, the driver of the boat was Ervin Bynum, 38, of Canton.
He was transported by ambulance to Baylor Hospital in Dallas,
where he was listed in good condition Monday.
The emergency call was received at 2:55 a.m. Cox said. “The boat
was northbound on Cedar Creek Lake when it struck the pylon,” he
added.
“Bynum was able to drive the boat to a nearby residence, where
he asked for help,” Cox explained.
Game wardens Shawn Smith and Dustin Balfanz, Seven Points Police
and fire departments and the Henderson County Sheriff’s
Department personnel responded to the scene.
Top Ten fugitive caught
On the run for 10 years, Henderson County
fugitive to return
Monitor Staff Reports
ATHENS–The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office reports the capture
of a wanted fugitive, on the run since August of 2002.
Travis Wayne Jones has eluded law enforcement for nearly 10
years.
Jones was originally arrested for Indecency with a Child by
Sexual Contact in July, 2001 following a Grand Jury indictment.
However, after posting a $5,000 bond was released and he failed
to make his court appearance.
In November of 2003, Jones was again indicted for Aggravated
Sexual Assault of a Child and an additional arrest warrant was
issued.
After taking office four years ago, Sheriff Ray Nutt assigned
Deputy Billy Jack Valentine as the new warrants deputy.
Valentine was also assigned to the United States Marshal Service
Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force.
Valentine was tasked with finding Jones. Jones was put on
Henderson County’s Top Ten Wanted Fugitives list and his case
profile ran on America’s Most Wanted television program.
Over the last four years, numerous tips came in identifying his
movement over several states.
“We believe we had been just steps behind Jones in the search,”
Nutt said.
Jones was tracked from Alabama to Nevada and to Colorado.
On Monday, while conducting surveillance, marshals noticed a
subject mowing the backyard of the suspected address that looked
similar in appearance to Travis Jones. When officers asked him
his name, he responded, “Nathan Reed.”
Upon requesting to see a state-issued ID card, the subject and
marshals went inside the residence. While making like he was
retrieving the identification, he ran out the back door, but was
quickly caught just outside the residence.
The subject then admitted that his true name was Travis Jones.
Jones was taken into custody, escorted and booked into the
Monroe County Detention Center in Arkansas where is awaiting
extradition back to Texas.
Nutt credited Jones’ capture to the “hard work, dedication and
determination of investigator Billy Jack Valentine.” Nutt also
praised the United States Marshal’s Service for its assistance
and efforts of the District Attorney’s Office under Scott McKee. |
