Fatal Crash In Anderson County

Last Friday around 9:30 pm there was a three-vehicle fatal crash on SH-19 in Anderson County, five miles south of Montalba. Reportedly the driver of a 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, identified as Morgan Magdziak, 30, of Palestine, was traveling north on SH-19 when she stopped to make a left turn into a private drive. The driver of a 2014 GMC Sierra, identified as Lance Leon Elmore, 47, of Palestine, failed to recognize the stopped vehicle and struck it from behind causing the Cavalier to enter the southbound lane. That is where a 2014 Dodge Journey, driven by Andrew Lee Cobbs, 38, of Whitefield, struck her.

As a result of the crash, a passenger in the Cavalier, identified as Maureen Magdziak Petranek, 68, of Palestine, died at the scene. JP Gary Thomas pronounced her dead, and her body is at Palestine’s Funeral Home. The driver, Magdziak, was taken to Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler in serious condition.

Paramedics treated both Cobbs and Elmore and released them at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.