Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A newlywed couple died after a pickup truck hit their car while they were leaving the parking lot of the Justice of the Peace office where they had just tied the knot.
The newlywed couple, Harley Morgan, 19, and Rhiannon Boudreaux, 20, were killed Friday afternoon minutes after their nuptials as they were leaving the office's parking lot, family members told 12News.
Family members were following behind the newlywed couple along with other members of the wedding party and witnessed the F-250 pickup truck towing a trailer hit their Chevy Cavalier on Texas Highway 87 near the Orange County Airport, causing it to overturn multiple times before falling into a ditch.
"I had to sit there and watch my two babies die," the mother of the groom, Harley, LaShawna Morgan, said. "That is an image I will have for the rest of my life. I still have his blood on my hands from trying to pull him and her out of there."
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The newlyweds were headed to the county courthouse to file their marriage license, get Rhiannon's name legally changed and take some more photos, before having cake at Morgan's house. Instead, they gathered to mourn at Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins in Vidor, where Harley was a night baker.
"My worse nightmare happened right in front of my eyes," the groom's mom said. "If you have kids, go home and hug them, because I don't have my kid, I don't have the one thing in my life that made me happy."
The couple were childhood sweethearts, who had been dating on and off since the eighth grade, family members said. Harley was considering going back to college and Rhiannon who worked at a local Walmart, had hoped to attend nursing school. They had planned a wedding ceremony Dec. 20.
"The only thing they wanted was to get married and start their life," LaShawna Morgan said. "The two of them had so many dreams and they wanted their family surrounding them. Life is precious. You don't know how much longer you are going to have a person. Stop worrying about the small stuff. This should've been the happy-ever-after story."
Joy Dubose-Simonton, the same Orange County Justice of the Peace who married them, declared them dead at the scene.
Police said the truck driver was not injured.
It's still unclear at this point if the driver will face charges.
