Thursday, September 3, 2009

I-10 At Comfort

The case of the elderly woman discussed in my previous posting is only one example of the many people who've turned up dead under suspicious circumstances in the I-10-Comfort area. Here are some additional examples for your consideration.
In January of 2000, the body of Yuhuai "J.J." Yan of San Antonio was brought to this area from elsewhere and dumped along the side of I-10 just into Gillespie County (only a small corner of which crosses the interstate). This death was ruled a homicide, and a gun dealer from Kerrville was questioned in the case, but no one has ever been charged.
On 3/12/03, Terry Ingram (52) and Pat Kutzer (59) were found brutally murdered on a ranch very close to the interstate here. A severely mentally incapacitated man from KY who appears incapable of defending himself was charged with this crime after his driver's license was conveniently dropped where it was sure to be found at the crime scene.
On 5/7/04, TX State Trooper Kurt Knapp (28) died in a wreck with another car at this interchange (the same one where the elderly woman in the previous posting was found). An article in a local newspaper stated that Trooper Knapp was working on some sort of special task force at the time.
A 9/2/05 local newspaper article mentioned a man from Comfort who was found dead on the side of the road near I-10. This man was never publicly identified, and no additional information was ever given out. I emailed a request to reporter Zeke MacCormack with the San Antonio Express-News asking him to find out who the man was, but Mr. MacCormack never responded to this.
In October of 2007, Theresa Vallado (38) of San Antonio drove to Fredericksburg for Oktoberfest. As she left town to head home, she was stopped by the Fredericksburg police. Shortly after that, she phoned her husband from I-10 to tell him she'd be back soon, but she never arrived. She was found dead in her vehicle under an overpass near Comfort--near wreaths for two other people who'd been found dead at the same spot on Christmas Eve in 1998.
On 2/2/09, Marietta McDonald (65) and Carla Saylor (44) died in a fiery wreck at the same interchange where Trooper Knapp had perished. A month later, David Guzman (40) of Selma and Robert Valderaz (74) of Comfort died in a flaming wreck nearby, on TX 27 west of Comfort in Kendall County. A month after that, Andrew Quasnitschka (21) died in a fiery crash on I-10 nearby in Kendall County.
These are just a few examples; there are many more, especially if you check a bit farther away in both directions--the Phillip Shue case, for example. Coincidentally, when I was married, my former father-in-law owned and rented out a ranch close to this interchange that was located either at the current site of the James Avery Craftsman's Comfort plant or adjacent to it. I don't know what happened to this property after my marriage ended. There used to be a flea market located across the road from this ranch that my children said their father and step-mother took them to many times, but I believe they said it has since closed down.

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