‘A whirlwind of emotions’: Family members remember loved ones killed in head-on collision in Bell County

BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - Two Central Texas families are grieving in the wake of the unexpected and devastating losses of two loved ones killed in a head-on car collision early Monday morning.

Meghan Beisel is left without a sister, Macayla Bartek, and Raegan Walker is without her father, Lance Scott.

Both of the victims grew up in Central Texas, Bartek in the Temple-Belton area and Scott in Killeen.

”As you can imagine it’s been a whirlwind of emotions,” Beisel said. “Unexpected to say the least.”

Bartek, 30, and Scott, 46, were in two separate cars when they collided head on in the middle of opposing lanes. It all took place around 4:15 on FM 439 Monday morning in Bell County.

The Texas Department of Safety is still investigating which of the drivers crossed over into the opposite lane. No one else was in either of the vehicles at the time of the incident.

”There’s not much we can say to take that pain from one another,” said Walker, who is the daughter of Scott.

Bartek was headed to work and Walker was on the way home.

”From the way everything looked, there was no obvious reason for that to have happened,” Beisel said.

Nobody was around when the crash happened, but Bartek’s family was able to trace her location through her phone when they didn’t hear from her.

”We don’t know how long it would’ve been before anyone was notified if her husband and son weren’t able to see where she actually was,” Beisel said.

Now the two families are holding onto the last memories of their loved ones.

”He was just always the life of the party for everyone,” Walker said. “I’ll just remember him as being a family man and a dad.”

Beisel said she will always remember her sister for her smile.

”When you look at pictures of Macayla it was obvious that she was beautiful,” Beisel said. “But whenever you got to know her there was just something everybody could see.”

Both families are still planning funerals that will take place in the next couple of weeks. Bartek’s family and Scott’s family have both set up GoFundMes to help them cover their funeral expenses.

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