Two young musicians were killed in a single-car accident outside Waco on July 29, and two other people are seriously injured. All four victims were students at Baylor University from the Dallas area.
Laura Onwudinanti, a 21-year-old from Grand Prairie, and Jack Stewart, a 19-year-old from Lake Highlands, both died in the accident on Highway 7 near Kosse in Falls County. The group's vehicle, a 2003 Dodge truck, struck a tree around 9:30 am on Tuesday.
The driver, 21-year-old Jacob Hale, and another passenger, 18-year-old Megan Ritzi, were airlifted to Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple. Hale and Ritzi are from Fort Worth and graduates of Boswell High School.
The group was en route to Baton Rouge for a meeting of the International Clarinet Association at Louisiana State University. Stewart was a junior instrumental music major at Baylor, and Onwudinanti was a 2014 Baylor graduate with a degree in music education. Hale, a senior, and Ritzi, a freshman, are also musicians.
In a statement, Baylor University president Ken Starr mourned the tragic accident.
The hearts of the Baylor University family and our School of Music are broken today as we mourn the passing of these remarkably talented students who have been taken too soon from us. We pray that God’s grace and comfort will surround the families and friends of Jack Stewart and Laura Onwudinanti at this terribly sad hour. We continue to labor in prayer for Jake Hale and Megan Ritzi, and for their attending physicians, as they are treated for their injuries. We ask the Baylor family to keep all loved ones and friends, and our School of Music faculty, staff and students, in their thoughts and prayers.
Jack Stewart, 19, was from Lake Highlands.
