Crash investigation spawns murder charges for lone survivor

The lone survivor in a 2022 crash along Highway 111 near Yoakum, where the two young occupants of the other vehicle involved both lost their lives, was recently arrested in Shiner in connection with their murders.

As of this writing late Sunday, Connor Jacob Ratcliff, 20, was released from custody at the Lavaca County Jail after posting the $500,000 bail—$250,000 for each case against him— after he was brought in by the Shiner Police Department on two murder charges.

Both were connected to the crash that took place less than five miles east of Yoakum along Highway 111, assistant prosecutor James Reeves told the newspaper.

The case had not yet been placed on the local court docket for trial.

The collision

It was a clear, late morning Saturday when Kolson Brock Jacobs, 19, and Lorin Gayle Miller, 18, hopped into his pickup on Oct. 16, 2022, to leave Yoakum and head out to his family’s place near the Hope community.

Just months prior, both Kolson and his girlfriend had crossed the stage for graduation at their respective high schools, Jacobs in Yoakum and Miller just down the road in Shiner.

Ratcliff did too, as he was also in the same graduating class as Jacobs, who also happened to be his cousin. In the interests of full disclosure, this writer’s niece was also a member of that same graduating class at Yoakum High School and had both as classmates at one time or another, having attended Yoakum schools since kindergarten.

By October of that, both Jacobs and Miller had already left their hometowns to further their respective educations after high school, he in building trades and she in cosmetology. Both were down for the weekend in hopes of catching up with a few friends. As they left town, neither suspected that the trip might be their last.

Moments later, however, that’s precisely what it became when they collided head-on with a truck driven by Ratcliff, about 4 ½ miles up the road.

Both vehicles were traveling at high speeds when they struck, accident investigators said in their reports. Nothing on scene, those reports also indicated, offered any sign that either tried to stop, slow down or swerve out of the way until it was too late.

Jacobs died at the scene almost instantly upon impact, investigators would tell the newspaper. Miller was rushed by ambulance to nearby Yoakum Community Hospital, where she, too, soon succumbed to her injuries.

Reports vary

Initial Department of Safety reports indicated that Ratcliff was rushed by helicopter to an Austin hospital, though the length of stay varied greatly between the DPS accounts and those calling the newspaper as purported family members.

While DPS provided nearly a week’s worth of condition updates to the daily newspaper in Victoria, , one woman who phoned in claiming to be the two boys’ aunt said that Ratcliff barely stayed an hour at the hospital before he heading back to Yoakum, and that he was at her house “in time for breakfast the next day.”

Multiple family members also refuted several other aspects about that day, either with other details about the collision itself or how it got reported by various agencies, including our own.

DPS issued its final accident report nearly two months later, in early December 2022. Even then, several lines of the report given to the media were redacted. In most cases—not all, but most—redactions occurred where private personal data such as birth dates of ID numbers would have been shared, the same kind of data that identity thieves tend to look for.

Ratcliff was driving a green 2004 Chevy Silverado that day. According to the report, that vehicle “drove on the wrong side of the road,” crossing into the eastbound lane of traffic when he was headed west.

The report also provided a second account, reportedly given by the surviving driver. Ratcliff told officers that it was his cousin, Jacobs, who first swerved into his lane, forcing him into the eastbound lane.

It went on: “The driver also stated . . . once he entered the eastbound lane, Unit 2 [Jacobs] entered back into the eastbound lane and they collided.”

Those details were provided on the DPS accident form in the space labeled “Investigator’s Narrative Opinion of What Happened,” which specifically asks that investigators draw conclusions based on their findings at the scene. The rest is strictly fact-based, handled almost entirely by coded numeric entries.

That narrative noted several other peculiarities: “The Driver of Unit 1 [Ratcliff] stated the driver of Unit 2 was his cousin and they regularly play ‘chicken’ when passing each other on the highway.”

For those who may not know, “chicken” can refer to any number of challenges designed with a singular purpose in mind: To see who backs down first.

It goes on: “A search warrant was obtained and a CDR [Crash Data Retrieval] download was performed on both trucks but did not show steering input on either truck. Speed and braking data indicated neither truck slowed down until a second and a half before the crash.”

It further added: “Two open containers were discovered in Unit 1 [Ratcliff’s truck] The application for a grand jury subpoena was filed to obtain the driver of Unit 1’s medical records. Results are pending.”

Speeding (Code No. 61 on Item 36) was a contributing factor in the crash, the report says, as was driving on the “wrong side of the road—not passing” (No. 70 on Item 36).

First responders have shared that marks left on the speedometer of the crashed vehicles indicated that both were driving in excess of 85 mph. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 70 mph.

Both Ratcliff and Miller were wearing seat belts when the crash occurred, the report indicates; Jacobs was not. The report also says that the front facing airbags deployed in both pickups for all three occupants.

As indicated in the narrative, DPS wanted Ratcliff tested for drugs and alcohol. They had not requested similar data from the deceased, though it was likely included as part of the inquests ordered by Precinct 4 Justice of Peace Hallie Hall, following their deaths.

The prosecution’s take

Despite mentions of probable drinking and things like “playing chicken” in those initial accident report, the pending murder cases filed against Ratcliff had nothing to do with some misplayed hand in a dangerous ongoing game or possible drunk driving, Lavaca County prosecutor James Reeves told the newspaper late Sunday.

Rather, their investigation suggests something far more sinister.

“Our investigation tells us that the two people who died that day were intentionally targeted,” Reeves said. “We have strong evidence suggesting as much, which is why we moved forward with the two murder indictments.”

Reeves said he couldn’t say much more than that without risking his case, but he did offer just one other insight: “I will say that there was ongoing history between all three that’s not normally found in other crashes.”

Look for more on this case as it progresses through the local justice system in coming months.