KYLE — On Thursday, June 6, 2024, 52-year-old Timothy Wray was involved in a three car accident on IH-35 in Kyle, which resulted in his death. Nearly nine months following the accident, his wife shared their story.
Timothy Conrad Wray, called Timmy by friends and family, was born Dec. 12, 1971. He was the father of three girls by his first wife and at the time of his death, he had been married to his second wife, Ellen Wray, for more than 17 years.
“I think it was his humor at first [that drew me to him],” said Ellen, an Australian native who met Timothy in a Yahoo chat room in 2004. “I’m like, ‘Wow, this guy is funny.’ And [other chat members] were ribbing him so hard and he’s taking a joke … That’s a big reason why I reached out because I thought, if he can laugh at himself, I’m all about it.”
Ellen and Timothy met online while he was on spring break from college, but was unable to go anywhere to celebrate with friends. They chatted online for a while before they ended up calling. For the first three weeks, they spoke over the phone for more than four to five hours a day. Ten months later, Ellen came to the United States to meet him.
“I came over for three weeks and we decided, ‘Hey, if there’s no chemistry, it was a vacation with friends,’” said Ellen.
After she arrived back in Australia, the two didn’t speak for a week, until he finally called her.
“I think neither of us expected to have feelings the way we did,” she explained. “We knew we had feelings prior, but it’s different in person.”
“Then, one day, he’s put me on a three-way-call with the U.S. Embassy, asking how to get his fiancée here,” said Ellen. “I thought, ‘He hasn’t even asked me, hold on.’ I’d been married before … So, I vowed I wasn’t going to do it again. I’d been on my own for six years prior to meeting him and so, then I came back [to the USA] 10 months later and he proposed. [He] said to me, ‘Well, I guess we should get married.’ [And I said] ‘Excuse me … If we’re gonna,’ I said, ‘You’re going to ask me properly’... And the next morning, he got down on his knee and asked me. I was always going to say yes.”
Following his time in the military, Timothy began working as a part of the Tech Team section in the Travis County Juvenile Probation Department (TCJPD), ultimately working his way up to team lead.
“Timmy Wray was always ready to lend a helping hand, ensuring that the staff's needs were met with his unwavering support,” said Timothy’s boss Cory Burgess, chief juvenile probation officer of TCJPD. “If you met him there was no doubt that he was a caring and deeply devoted person.”
Faith was also a big portion of Timothy’s life, as he was in his church’s choir and had been a chaplain's assistant while in the military.
“Although I was Timmy Wray's pastor, he was like a son, little brother and friend to me,” said Michael Scott, bishop of Timothy’s church. “At my house, I can see the imprints of Timmy's work, such as the new computer he built, how he had helped me build raised garden beds, the gates Timmy built in my backyard, the fish tank stand he helped put together and so many other great memories. I remember getting vegetables from the garden and his interest in my wife teaching him how to cook different types of food. My wife and I enjoyed watching him eat her cooking and laughing and joking with us … We will cherish his memories until we see him in heaven.”
Because of the large role that faith played in his life, Timothy considered becoming a pastor.
“Twelve months before he passed he asked me if I’d support him if he became a pastor,” said Ellen. “I said yes. Then, three months before [his death], he said, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’”
“Just weeks before the lead up to [the accident], he was so excited to go to heaven,” said Ellen. “The Sunday before, he stood behind this couch and told me, ‘Do you know how exciting heaven’s going to be? It’s paradise. We have no illness; We get new bodies.’ He was so excited.”
Ellen was on the phone with Timothy that Thursday, June 6.
“We spoke every day on his way home,” said Ellen. “So, when he was driving home, he called me because he knew I was at home and he was saying to me, ‘I think there’s been an accident, the traffic’s gridlocked,’ so I thought he was further away from home … It literally went from us talking to [a sound like] a truck reversing, like the beeping, and so, I’m still talking to him. I thought he had pulled over on the left, opened his door and helped somebody that was injured because that’s who he was. I heard the first responder and they were like, ‘We've got no pulse. We need CPR.’ Not for a second, [did] I think it was him. I thought it was someone else. So, I was still talking to him.”
According to Kyle Police Department (KPD), the initial investigation showed that a GMC Yukon, driven by 41-year-old David Mann, rear ended Timothy’s Nissan passenger car, which caused Timothy’s car to hit a Toyota pickup truck, driven by 33-year-old Matthew Dalsing.
“The first responding officer had called me while I was on the phone and I’d answered … Because right as that call came in, I heard [the first responder] say, ‘We found ID,’” said Ellen. “I answered the call and all they told me was — they confirmed who I was and who he was — and they said to me, ‘He’s been in a bad accident. We’re taking him to hospital. He’s been taken by ambulance. Can you meet us there?’... We drove to the hospital and long story short, they took me into a private room. In my mind, he’s got injuries, but he’s okay. The doctor came in about 10 minutes later … and he said ‘I’m so sorry. We couldn’t save him.’ And I think I may have let out a sound. I don’t know if I screamed. I don’t know.”
Later, an autopsy would show that Timothy died instantly after his neck was broken.
“It’s a loss and people are devastated, even now, it’s not just me, it’s not just his kids. He’s got work colleagues, his church family … He was my everything, people miss him,” said Ellen. “If he walked into a room the whole place lit up and he didn’t even have to do anything.”
“Timmy was indeed my brother. Always gave me advice with my best interest at heart,” said Brian Bush, Timothy’s close friend. “Even till this day, when I experience great milestones in my life, he is one of the first people I think of that I want to tell … I will forever love and miss my brother Timothy Conrad Wray. He is by far one of the greatest people I ever met in my lifetime and for that I am grateful.”
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Eight months after the accident, Ellen is still waiting on the results of the toxicology report for the driver who hit her husband.
“I was told that it would take up to six months for the other driver’s toxicology report and then, I was told that it sat at alcohol testing for 30 days. So, I thought, ‘Okay, that’s seven months, that puts me at Jan. 6,’” said Ellen.
Jan. 6 came and went without any news of the results of the toxicology report.
“My concern is we’re looking at over eight months now and the longer it takes, the more chance it’s lost or it’s been contaminated,” she said.
Ellen also had concerns about the lack of charges in Timothy’s case.
“I said to [the detective], ‘You’re telling me that [the other driver] was not speeding. He comes up; he parks his engine on my husband’s back seat. He broke [Timothy’s] neck, he killed him instantly, pushed him across two lanes of traffic and you can’t get him on reckless driving. And they said, ‘Well, there’s other elements,’ and I said ‘Well, what I do know is there were no skid marks. He didn’t even attempt to stop or slow down.’”
Recently, Ellen started getting updates from a different detective on the case and, while the communication is much better, she still wonders why the investigation hasn’t moved further along, as nearly nine months later, no individual has been arrested or charged with anything relating to the accident.
“I’m so sick of waiting. People want answers. People are angry. People do not understand. Nobody understands why there are no charges,” said Ellen. “[The other driver] needs to be charged. He murdered [Timothy], whether intentional or not, if he wasn’t looking at the road, then it’s reckless driving. If he was looking at the road and just didn’t stop, it’s reckless driving. Doesn’t matter how you paint it. It’s still the same thing at the end of the day.”
“We are committed to bringing closure to the friends and family who lost a loved one in this tragic accident,” said Ashlee Bradshaw, public information and community engagement specialist for the Kyle Police Department. “We have been working diligently to conduct a thorough investigation on the matter. Evidence has been submitted to the Texas Department of Public Safety laboratory for analysis. We are currently awaiting those results. The timeline can vary depending on the volume of submissions.”
“None of it’s fair and … I want justice,” said Ellen. “Timmy wouldn’t care. He’s exactly where he wanted to be. He was ready for this. None of us are. It’s not right … He was a ray of sunshine and he was good. He had a good heart. He would’ve done anything for anybody. You wouldn’t have to ask twice.”
The investigation into Timothy’s death is still active and ongoing and no further details have been released at this time. Further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
