On July 17, 2009 Randy Scott Lopez was killed in a single vehicle accident on FM 3083 near at the intersection of Jefferson Chemical. He was southbound leaving Conroe when his truck left the right side of the roadway, went sideways crossing FM 3083 hitting the guardrail then slamming into the steel pole supporting the traffic control lights. He died at the scene.
Within weeks his mother Debra Lopez and other family members erected a memorial at the intersection. That was the first time. Since then a total of five crosses have been placed at the location. The last just a week ago. Each time the disappear.
Almost two weeks ago Debra Lopez’s daughter posted a message on Facebook that someone had removed the crosses.
She wasn’t the only one, Conroe Police Officer Gary Hardage was killed in August of 2008 in a motorcycle accident on West Davis. His wife had placed a marker at that location and it too was stolen. Both families contacted TXDOT who said they did not remove them.
Sunday afternoon a twelve-year-old Michaela Delaney was doing a 4-H project. Photographing pipeline trails near FM3083. When she got under the bridge along Dry Creek along Fm 3083 she spotted a white cross lying on the ground. Not fifty-feet away was another much larger one on the bank of the creek, almost in the water.
Knowing these were important to someone she told her mother Randle Charbonneau-Delaney who went home began searching Facebook for the post. The crosses were were quite heavy and access to the creek bed quite steep for her to attempt a recovery by herself.
Within an hour the family responded to the scene and recovered both crosses. With the two recovered, Debra Lopez stood on the side of the road waiting for the sheriff’s office to respond so she could file a report.
In the mean time, Randy’s sister Stacey began walking into the wooded area and along the base of the next bridge almost 100 yards away in search of the other missing crosses. They were not found.
After the first ones came up missing they family built them stronger and to the point they would be difficult to remove. The cross that was recovered Sunday took two people to load on the truck.
The family has filed several theft reports with the sheriff’s office. They assigned a detective to it awhile back but still the crosses come up missing.
The family would like anyone with information on who is disrespectful enough to destroy a memorial to contact the sheriff’s office. The family also wishes to thank the young lady who spotted these crosses for telling her mother and her mother following up on it to get them back.
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