Auto Accident Costs Life of Huston Soprano that Was Not Wearing a Seatbelt
A Huston singer was found dead on a roadway after she was ejected from a car accident for not wearing a seatbelt. A wrong way driver hit the vehicle she was traveling in head-on late Sunday in West Texas. This marked the second auto accident death of a performing arts death in the community. A car accident lawyer will be able to assist her family in the tough situation that they are going through.
Huston soprano singer Laura Beth Botkin, a 27-year-old, was sitting in the back seat of a 2009 Honda. She was returning from a trip to the Grand Canyon with a group of friends and was not wearing a seatbelt.
As their vehicle was nearing their location, a pickup truck heading the wrong way hit their vehicle head-on. The driver of the Honda, Jonathan James Runnels was not able to avoid the accident, he had the right of way.
On impact Botkin was ejected from the backseat and onto the roadway and Runnels was critically injured. When authorities arrived to the scene, the singer was declared dead. The driver of the pickup truck Jose Marmolejo Jr is also in critical condition, as reported by KCBD-TV in Lubbock.
Investigators are looking into what may have caused the accident and believe that alcohol could have been a factor. News reports alleged that Marmolejo had an active warrant out for a previous DWI.
Botkin’s family and community were devastated when they had wind of her death. They had been there when she received a Masters of Music and Vocal Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in May of 2008. They were there to listen to her while she was a member of the choir at Christ Church Cathedral. The students that were coached by her and trained on how to improve their voice at HITS Theater in The Heights will also miss her.
Robert Simpson, canon for music at Christ Cathedral Church in downtown Houston, said he worked with Botkin on a weekly basis, from 2008 through 2011. “She was extremely talented, vivacious and spontaneous,” Simpson said. “She just embodied a love of life. She had all of the promise, and it’s a life cut short that has us all reaching for words to console one another.”
Robert A. Yekovich, dean of The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, echoed his sentiments in an email to Chron “This is a terrible tragedy for Laura’s family and for the Rice community; Laura was a gifted, bright young lady with an exceptionally warm personality.”
An automobile fatality can cause a family much grief. Practicing automobile safety such as following laws and wearing a seatbelt can reduce injuries and deaths on the road.