'The greatest person in the world': Victim of Austin car crash remembered by his sister

Before his death on Feb. 14, Adam Boyd Attebury lived transiently near the Memorial Park Cemetery in Southwest Austin for an unknown amount of time, tethered to the graveyard where multiple generations of his family were buried, according to his sister.

He was killed less than a mile from where his ancestors lay buried. Austin police have charged Jacob Fox Sussman, 41, with intoxication manslaughter after he allegedly struck the victim with his vehicle on U.S. 290, near the intersection of William Cannon Drive.

Police have not publicly named Attebury as the victim, but his sister, Faith Attebury Miracle, identified him and recalled memories of the 58-year-old military veteran and former corrections officer in an interview with the American-Statesman.

Attebury was 15 years her senior. As the baby of the family, Miracle had not shared a childhood with her elder brother, she said. At 19, she moved in with him, and they shared a home in Austin, living together on and off, for about six years. He was her best friend and role model, she said.

"My brother was the greatest person in the world," Miracle said. "I looked up to him. He took care of me for many years when I needed a place to live and he took me in."

When Miracle gave birth to her first daughter, she said, Attebury was a doting uncle. His niece struggled to say "uncle" and instead called him "Apple Adam."

Miracle said she last spoke to her brother in 2020 and had been unable to contact him since then.

Spiral into homelessness

Attebury's grandparents, parents and sister Rachel were buried at the Memorial Park Cemetery, Miracle said. Finding it hard to cope with their deaths, he had been homeless for at least 10 years, having fallen into the clutches of drugs.

A search warrant alleges that Sussman was inebriated at the time of the crash and could not remember details about the collision. He had previously pleaded guilty to a 2015 hit-and-run at the same intersection, which injured a driver and passenger. During that earlier incident, Sussman was found to be intoxicated and uncooperative, according to the 2015 arrest affidavit. He received a four-year deferred adjudication for the incident and served no jail time.

Public records show Sussman went on to open Madrone Coffee Co. in 2021, mere feet from both incidents.

Prior to his spiral into homelessness, Attebury had served in the military, spending several years stationed in South Korea, according to his sister. After his discharge, he returned home to Austin and was employed by the Travis County sheriff's office. He worked there as a corrections officer from 1996 to 2004, resigning with the rank of senior corrections officer, sheriff's office spokesperson Kristen Dark said.

His fall into homelessness can be traced to the death of his grandfather. Miracle said her brother became self-destructive after their grandfather passed away in his arms in 2003.

Miracle said she thought her brother considered himself a burden, cutting contact with her — though she said she would have dropped everything and helped him if had he asked.

"He wasn't dangerous," Miracle said. "He was a sad man that didn't know how to ask for help."

'A loving community'

The Austin Police Department was initially unable to identify Attebury's body. Miracle said she was notified of her brother's death when an employee at the Circle K gas station in Oak Hill contacted her on social media. Miracle said she spoke with the Travis County medical examiner and identified Attebury's body the day after his death, and police confirmed his identity with fingerprints the next day.

The Circle K employee told Miracle that Attebury had often spoken about his younger sister. It was a relief for Miracle to learn that the gas station employees had rallied around him and created a loving community, hosting a birthday party for him last July, complete with gifts and a cake.

"It's such a peace to my heart that he wasn't alone," Miracle said. "It's a silver lining to know that they loved him and looked after him, cherishing him for who he was. Even though he was homeless, they didn't judge him."

Miracle has started an online fundraiser to help pay for the funeral and bury her brother in the same Oak Hill cemetery from which he'd rarely strayed.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Homeless man killed in Southwest Austin car crash remembered by sister