GILMER/UPSHUR COUNTY (KYTX) - The family of an east Texas mother killed in last week's Smith County hit-and-run wreck wants answers.
Amanda Keller has lived in Guam, New Jersey and now North Carolina. So she didn't spend many recent years with Michele Ann Keller Allen, but when we talked to her by phone today, you could still hear the shock Amanda feels from losing her sister.
"She had an innocence about her, kind of like the wonder in a child, almost, when you looked at her," Keller said. "She was a very, very loving person, and her life was taken long before she could even see the potential of that in her."
Amanda Keller was Michele's older sister. They grew up together, loved each other, even shared the early joys of motherhood. Amanda joined the Air Force, and was stationed around the country, something she says strained their sisterhood.
"We got disconnected," Keller said. "With me living in Guam for six and a half years, it's kind of hard to keep up with everybody, so I kept up with what was going on in her life through my grandmother and my aunt."
Their time together was cut short last Wednesday, when Michele, a mother of three, died after the truck she was in crashed on Smith County Road 217 near Overton. Investigators say the driver, 30-year-old Justin Lee Echols, of Diana, hit a tree, then spent five days on the run before turning himself in to an Upshur County constable Monday.
Justin Echols remains at the Upshur County Jail awaiting transfer to Smith County to face charges of causing an accident that led to death or personal injury. Meanwhile, Amanda says she wants justice for her only sister.
"I was very upset that someone would leave a person there to die," Keller said. "We don't know, I don't know for sure whether she died instantly or if she could have been saved."
Michele had an 11-year-old daughter and two sons, ages eight and six, now taken care of by Michele's ex husband.
"I have a lot of mixed emotions, because this is one of those situations that you don't believe will ever happen to you," Keller said.
A memorial service for Michele will be held Friday morning at 11 at the Harleton Baptist Church in her hometown.
DPS tells us the case remains under investigation, so we don't know yet exactly what led to the accident.
