HARRIS COUTNY, Texas – Authorities are investigating a deadly head-on collision involving two vehicles Sunday morning.
Officials closed the Hardy Toll Road at I-45 around 3:45 a.m. after a wrong-way driver collided head-on with another vehicle.
Authorities said Allan Bonilla, 32, was driving a Dodge Charger northbound in the southbound lane when he hit a Mercedes carrying a husband and his wife. Investigators identified the couple as Patrick Delane, 49, and Jacqueline Davis-Delane, 52. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
"You couldn't bring a wedge between them. Didn't catch one without the other," said Bryson Brown, the couple's son.
Brown is Jacqueline's biological son. He spoke to KPRC2 with Melanie Delane, Patrick's biological daughter.
The Delane's were out Saturday night celebrating what would have been Patrick's 50th birthday. "They were just out partying bar hopping in the Woodlands. After that they had breakfast. Everybody was calm and relaxing," Melanie Delane said.
After breakfast, the Delanes were headed home. That's when, investigators say, Bonilla hit them head-on
The crash killed all three.
Investigators have not said whether Bonilla was drunk.
The medical examiner will determine that.
"There are three families that will never be complete again," Bryson Brown said.
Brown and Melanie Delane became siblings by marriage, the union of two fun-loving people. They said they will use the love their parents had for one another and their family to cope.
"We have each other to know what it feels like to lose a parent," Delane said.
FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS GATHER TO REMEMBER
There was prayer, there was pain and there were tears.
Over 100 family members, friends and co-workers gathered at the Delane home in Spring for a candlelight vigil to remember the couple.
When asked how badly the couple would be missed, without hesitating, Jackie's cousin Derada Powers replied, "Oh gosh, it's going to take us years. It's devastating."
Monday was Patrick's actual birthday, so those who loved the couple decided to celebrate as Jackie had planned.
"It means a lot," says Patrick's daughter Melanie Delane through tears. "Today is my daddy's 50th birthday, and it means a lot."
Jacqueline's son Bryson Brown adds, "I don't think either one of them would've wanted to live without the other. So, I think it's better they can stay united forever, even though we're going to miss them forever."
In addition to lighting candles, the crowd of gatherers also released balloons after sunset.