Outside the Beltway

Deputy’s Sons Die in Separate Car Crashes

James Joyner · Thursday, December 8, 2005 · 3 comments

A Kentucky sheriff’s deputy lost two sons in separate car accidents within fifteen minutes Wednesday morning.

Brothers die eerily in separate car crashes (MSNBC)

An unusual and tragic situation has occurred for one family in Warren County. Two brothers died Wednesday morning in separate car crashes within 15 minutes of each other. The victims are Rory McDowell, 23, and Cory McDowell, 21. Police say Rory was driving on a rural road when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree. About 15 minutes later, in an entirely different location, Cory McDowell’s Porsche left the road, struck a tree and burst into flames.

Cory and Rory are the sons of longtime Warren County Deputy Sheriff Andy McDowell.

Horrific.

Update: Brothers die in traffic crashes a few minutes apart (WKYT)

Two brothers died within minutes of each other early Wednesday in separate traffic crashes on country roads in Warren County, where their father is a sheriff’s deputy. Rory McDowell, 23, and Cory McDowell, 21, were pronounced dead a couple of miles from the home they shared with their father, Andy McDowell.

Authorities said the father had always doted on his sons. “That’s all he talked about was his boys,” said sheriff’s department Sgt. Tim Meyer. “He lived for his boys.”

Andy McDowell was off-duty at the time but was taken to Rory’s crash. He later was driven past Cory’s fiery crash, not knowing his younger son was involved in it. “You take the most unimaginable hell that a parent could be told and double that,” Warren County Deputy Coroner Dwayne Lawrence said. […] The brothers didn’t have any other siblings, he said.

Wow.

Correction: The original post had this happening in Tennessee. The dateline of the MSNBC piece is “Nashville” and there is in fact a Warren County, Tennessee. OTB regrets the error.