Two years have passed since an illegal alien escaped law enforcement custody after he got drunk and allegedly killed a 29-year-old Bedford County woman in a traffic accident.
And that man, Omar Edgar Torres-Rangel, remains on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted List.
The woman who died in that accident, Keri King, left behind family members, including her sister Cheri Blackwell.
“I get sick to my stomach thinking about her being gone. I had raised Keri since she was 10. Our parents died when she was 10. So she was more than just my sister,” Blackwell said in an email to The Tennessee Star this week.
“I want someone to fight for justice for Keri.”
TBI spokesman Josh DeVine said in an email Thursday that agency members continue to search for Rangel.
“To that end, we’d encourage anyone who may know where he is to let us know by calling 1-800-TBI-FIND,” DeVine said.
“There is a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to his capture.”
Bedford County Commissioner Brent Smith said Thursday that he had no updates on the case. Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing did not return a request for comment.
Escaping Law Enforcement
As The Star reported, Torres-Rangel already had a criminal record in the United States when he allegedly killed King.
As reported, officers with the Glasgow Police Department out of Kentucky arrested Torres-Rangel seven years ago and charged him with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs — first offense. They also charged him with not having a moped driver’s license.
As reported, in the hours before Keri died in October 2018, Torres-Rangel was at Rancho La Herradura, a venue in Bell Buckle for Mexican rodeos and horse races, where he allegedly got intoxicated.
As reported, Torres-Rangel left and allegedly hit and killed King as she was on her way home. Torres-Rangel sustained his own injuries in the crash. Authorities transported him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He escaped that hospital unnoticed.
At least three Bedford County commissioners said in 2018 that they were concerned about what they called alleged instances of drug deals, prostitution, gambling, and human trafficking at Rancho La Herradura. One of those commissioners alerted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
‘They Did Nothing to Protect Keri’
Blackwell said she’s especially angry with her local law enforcement.
“I feel like they have done nothing to stop what is going on or looking for the man that killed my sister. I truly believe that someone else will die or be seriously injured by someone leaving that place [Rancho La Herradura],” Blackwell said this week.
“I still can’t believe Keri is gone. It saddens me and makes me so angry. She had her entire life ahead of her, and it was taken from her and me. I never got to see her get married or have children, what she had always dreamt of. The people in this town knew that place was not safe. They did nothing to protect Keri. They still aren’t doing anything. You would think they would do whatever possible being as this was Keri’s home. She was a major part of this community.”
Staff at Rancho La Herradura did not return The Star’s request for comment Thursday.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
The system has failed this woman on so many levels and it is so sad. From reading past articles about this case, ICE was never called. THP (who worked the incident) wasn’t watching him at the hospital. I’m sure Metro’s finest wasn’t notified -or- said it wasn’t their job.
You can bet your life that if it was a police officer who had died in this manor, there would have been an army of cops armed to the teeth looking for this guy and non stop until he was caught.
Stories like this make me sick. I’ve burned the face into my memory. If I ever see this POS, he will be held by some of Austria’s finest hardware until I bother the cops to come do their job.
And if it happens to be inside Davidson county, I won’t be wearing a mask. And I dare any of you Metro employed goons to call me out.