Mom-of-3 Killed When Rock Thrown from Overpass Crashes Through Windshield Like an 'Explosion'

KC Baker
Updated

A mother of three from Texas died after someone allegedly threw a large rock off a highway overpass that crashed through the windshield and struck her, fatally injuring her, as her boyfriend and children watched in horror, police say.

On Saturday, Keila Ruby Flores, 33, of Waco, was riding in a car with her boyfriend and her three children on Interstate 35 when the rock came hurtling through the windshield at about 8:41 p.m., shattering it and striking Flores who was in the front passenger seat, the Temple Police Department says in a release.

Keila Ruby Flores and her family were approaching this overpass on Interstate 35 when someone threw a rock onto the highway below, striking their car, say police.
Keila Ruby Flores and her family were approaching this overpass on Interstate 35 when someone threw a rock onto the highway below, striking their car, say police.

Flores was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time while her boyfriend, Christopher Rodriguez was at the wheel.

“(We were) headed back to Waco on 35 northbound, all of sudden something just strikes the window,” Rodriguez told local CBS affiliate KWTX-TV.

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“An explosion just comes right through the window. I didn’t know what it was. I look over and I see Keila and she is laying there unresponsive,” he recalled.

Keila Ruby Flores, 33, of Waco, Texas
Keila Ruby Flores, 33, of Waco, Texas

The rock was allegedly thrown off of a railroad overpass on the Interstate between exits 303 and 305, say police in the release.

Rodriguez said he began “shaking” her to rouse her as the couple’s daughter implored him to call 911, he told the station.

Flores was rushed to Baylor Scott and White Hospital and succumbed to her injuries the next morning, say police.

An autopsy has been ordered.

Authorities are searching for the perpetrator.

Investigators are asking anyone with any information to contact the Temple Police Department at (254) 298-5500.

Tips can also be sent through Bell County Crime Stoppers at BellCountyCrimeStoppers.com, through the P3tips App or by calling 254-526-TIPS (8477).