Bedford County resident Keri King, 29, was one of the finest people Jeff Boyce ever knew.
She didn’t deserve to die the way that she did, because of the actions of an alleged illegal immigrant, said Boyce, who lives in Cannon County.
As The Tennessee Star reported, Omar Edgar Torres-Rangel drove drunk last month and killed King as she drove home from Murfreesboro.
Boyce said he feels sadness. He also has rage.
Sadness because a woman he called “an angel” no longer walks the earth. Rage because Torres-Rangel escaped from law enforcement. Rage, again, because King’s surviving family members say law enforcement won’t give them any answers.
“One minute I’m so angry I can’t even explain how angry I am, and it makes me so sad I want to cry,” Boyce told The Tennessee Star Tuesday, before his voice broke and he started sobbing.
Boyce said wants to lobby members of the Tennessee General Assembly to act to make sure nothing like this happens again in Tennessee, although he did not specify how they could do that.
“I will spend every penny I’ve got to run a damn front page ad in every paper in this state right before election time and I will tell Keri’s story,” Boyce said, as a warning to any state legislator who won’t help.
Boyce, who said he raises livestock, said the most important thing to know about Keri is this — if Torres-Rangel had killed someone else, and if Keri was still alive, she’d pray for him and his family.
“Some people are too forgiving for their own good, and she was one of those kind of people,” Boyce said.
Justice for Keri
At a young age, Keri already knew about tragedy.
When she was young her parents died.
And when Keri, a hairdresser, spent time with her peers she was always the responsible one, Boyce said.
“If any of them wanted to drink then Keri was always the designated driver that drove them wherever they were going to do whatever it was they were going to do,” Boyce said.
Keri left behind an older brother and sister.
According to multiple sources, Keri was still alive when LifeFlight came to the scene of last month’s crash.
“The paramedic said they were loading her up. They put an oxygen mask on. She pulled the oxygen mask down,” Boyce said.
“She said, ‘Make sure that you tell my sister that I love her,’ They said she then died immediately.”
As The Star reported, earlier that evening, Torres-Rangel left a Mexican rodeo in Bell Buckle called Rancho Le Herradura while he was apparently intoxicated.
One Bedford County commissioner wrote a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, complaining about alleged drug deals, prostitution, gambling, and human trafficking that goes on there.
Torres-Rangel was reportedly injured in the accident he caused. Members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol reportedly transported him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
As reported, what happened to Torres-Rangel afterwards is unknown. He is no longer a patient at Vanderbilt.
District Attorney Robert Carter, meanwhile, refused to answer The Star when asked if he knows Torres-Rangel’s present whereabouts.
For his part, Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing said Torres-Rangel is not in the county jail.
For Keri’s family, this is just too much, Boyce said.
“People say her older sister is broken because of this. I’m mad. I’m ready for the family to get mad. I’m ready for Keri to get justice,” Boyce said.
And what happens if the powers-that-be don’t provide any answers?
“That’s simple,” Boyce said.
“We hound them, hound them, hound them.”
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Keri King” by Keri King.
[…] The Tennessee Star reported last fall, that alleged illegal immigrant, Edgar Torres Rangel, was allegedly intoxicated when he killed King […]
[…] As Tennessee Star reported, Edgar Torres-Rangel, an alleged illegal immigrant, was intoxicated in late October when he hit and killed King, 29, as she was on her way home. […]
Senator Bob Corker is put off because President Trump missed his office fairwell and will leave without voting on the boarder security funding. I encourage everyone to contact the Senator and encourage him to vote Yes.
[…] As The Tennessee Star reported, Edgar Torres-Rangel was intoxicated in late October when he hit and killed King, 29, as she was on her way home. […]
these children have to be checked to make sure its their real family–when a man crosses the border into mex the drug cartel will give him a little boy to help him get into the united states so he can get pity when he reaches the u s –it takes 2 or 3 weeks to cross mexico so he can have the little boy to molest on the way–the locals call this having a f— b—-//// this costs extra over the 35 hundred dollars they pay the drug cartel–sometimes about 7 hundred dollars–younger the boy –most cost–this is why the familys must be checked
[…] As The Tennessee Star reported, Torres-Rangel is an alleged illegal alien who drove drunk and killed a Bedford County woman, Keri King, last month. […]
It is a cultural divide. Per capita, Americans do not drink and drive anywhere near the same rates as others south-of-the-border.
I get being angry & I get being sad/upset. I knew this girl & I want her family to have justice. However I don’t see how the DRUNK driver being an illegal has any pertinence to the story. The issue here is that a drunk driver is not being held responsible for killing someone. His race, his ethnicity, his age, his gender even does NOT matter. What matters is getting the real issue addressed. The issue is not immigration & it’s not whether or not the man is an illegal. The issue getting justice for someone who deserves that justice & to help her grieving family & friends find peace.
It is pertinent due to the fact he wasn’t held, wasn’t charged is appears and is not being held accountable and it has to do with the current laws and ICE etc. Did the man who caused the death of this women receive even a traffic ticket? Did this drunken person receive special treatment and who looked the other way in order for him to disappear without even a traffic ticket?
Then it’s on the justice system & the courts as to why they are not holding this man responsible. Just because the driver is of another race has nothing to do with the fact that he is a murderer. And I love how you are saying the exact same thing as I am, that justice needs to be brought but you are doing it from a racist perspective instead of a justice perspective. I agree that this person should be behind bars but it has nothing to do with his race it has to do with him killing someone. A legal person who is American, Mexican or whatever is perfectly capable of being a drunk driver & killing someone. I just want to point out that his race has nothing to do with the fact that he should be punished.
Are you freak in serious?! You DO NOT GET WHY his status would have ANYTHING to do with this?!!! It has EVERYTHING to do with it! If this guy would have been WHITE or BLACK or HISPANIC or CHINESE or any other AMERICAN CITIZEN, they would be in jail right now!!! For the life of me I cannot figure out why you think the way you do and say that you’re “someone who cares.”
His immigration status is the most important issue regardless of his race. Had he not been here, had our immigration laws been enforced
Keri King would be alive. There would be no need for any justice.
You can hold this guy responsible any way you want but I would rather he had never been here and Keri was alive.
Do you see now?