From staff reports

 

Two Orange County residents have been identified in a deadly boating wreck late Tuesday night on Lake Sam Rayburn.

Jerry Todd Cross, 39, of Orange was was pronounced dead at the scene by Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Brett Holloway according to a report at KJAS.com. Cross was the driver of the boat.

A medical helicopter flew Casey Weston Thibodeaux, 34, of Orangefield, to a Beaumont hospital. Thibodeaux was one of the passengers of the boat.

Two children, Baelynn Thibodeaux and Gracie Cross, both 11, were also on the boat at the time of the collision.

Baelynn has been transferred to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont where her mother is at. Casey has been upgraded from critical to stable condition, but she remains on a ventilator in the ICU.

Gracie is undergoing treatment at Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital.

The collision happened just before 11 p.m. just offshore from the Twin Dykes Boat Ramp when the boat struck a very small island.

The impact was on the east side of the island, indicating that the boat was headed westbound.

The accident investigation is being headed up by Texas Parks & Wildlife Game Warden Justin Eddins.