A daughter mourns the loss of her father, killed last night in I-20 car crash

Saturday, September 1, 2018

(News 12 at 11 o'clock)

AUGUSTA, Ga (WRDW/WAGT) -- Tire marks are still visible and debris is scattered into the woods- all remains from the crash that killed 61-year old Vernon Eugene Faglier.

"My dad was my best friend. So I feel like I just lost my best friend," said Crystal Hallford, Vernon Faglier's daughter.

Crystal says she woke up at 3am in the morning to a frantic phone call from her mother panicking because Vernon never made it home.

"He said, 'Pam, I think I'm going to go get me a hamburger. I think the McDonalds on Washington Road is open so I'm going to go get something to eat.' And that's the last time she's heard from him."

The crash occurred at mile-marker 198 on I-20, sending both of the cars off of the road and into the nearby wooded area.

Investigators say the driver of a BMW was intoxicated, speeding down the highway when he struck Faglier's Nissan pick-up truck, ejecting him from the car.

"Me and my husband Matt were sitting there pulling up and I see my dad's white truck on top of a trailer and it was crushed and so I just told my husband, I said, pull over."

The BMW driver is 27-year old Jonathan Ewing Butler. He faces multiple charges, including driving too fast and driving under the influence.

"Why? Why did he do that to my dad? I mean, why couldn't you just take an Uber?"

She says her father was full of life. He served in the Air Force for 20 years and worked as a chemical engineer.

"He's really family oriented. My mom is his light and now, they're not together. They've been together for 42 years."

A light, she says, she'll miss every day.

"Out of the blue he'll call me and say, 'Crystal, I just want to tell you I love you.' And that was our relationship. He'd just call me out of the blue and say 'I love you, I just want to tell you that.'"

The driver of the BMW, Jonathan Butler, was sent to AUMC. He faced non-life threatening injuries and is now in prison.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT)-- A fatal car crash on I-20 leaves one driver in jail and the other dead. Investigators say alcohol was involved. Just before 3 o'clock this morning, deputies say a 2009 BMW was going at a high speed along I-20 westbound near mile marker 198. The BMW hit the back of a 2008 Nissan that was in the same lane. The impact led both cars to go off the road and into a wooded area. The driver of the Nissan, who investigators say was ejected from his car, died on scene. The victim is Vernon Eugene Faglier, a 61-year-old from Thomson Georgia. The driver of the BMW was found at fault. Investigators say he is charged with Driving too Fast for Conditions, Following too Closely, DUI Alcohol and Vehicular Homicide 1st Degree. This story is developing.