SAN MARCOS, Texas -- The driver of a car that overturned, killing the young daughter of country-western star George Strait, has been released from jail under $2,000 bond on charges of criminally negligent homicide.
Jennifer Strait, 13, of San Marcos, daughter of the 1985 top male country vocalist, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident Wednesday night in rural central Texas.
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A funeral was scheduled today at the First United Methodist Church in San Marcos, with burial in Pearsall, Strait's hometown.
George Strait, 34, was named top male vocalist of the year for 1985 by the Country Music Association and also won album of the year for 'Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.'
Mike Cox, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, said the driver of the car, Gregory Wilson Allen, 18, of Staples, was charged with a Class A misdemeanor.
Cox said alcohol was not a factor in the accident.
'After the accident last night, he (Allen) was taken by our trooper to the Hays County Jail where he voluntarily took a breath test,' he said. 'The results of the test were negative.
'The trooper said contributing to the accident was excessive speed and the car did not negotiate the turn.'
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Allen appeared Thursday before Hays County Justice of the Peace Macel Sullivan, the official who pronounced the girl dead at the scene. He was released on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond and ordered to appear July 24 before County-Court-At-Law Judge Howard Warner.
Jennifer Strait was riding with two friends, William Allen McDonald, 16, and Joseph Wiley Robbins, 17, both of San Marcos, in a car driven by Allen when the crash occurred at 11:55 p.m. Wednesday, Cox said.
He said the vehicle, eastbound on county road 172 in Hays County near San Marcos, turned sharply right on farm to market 2439, went into a sideways skid and flipped, landing on its top in a ditch at the roadside.
Sullivan said none of the occupants of the car were wearing seat belts and Jennifer Strait was partially thrown from the vehicle.
Robbins and McDonald were treated for minor injuries and released from a San Marcos hospital, and Allen was uninjured.
A special Jennifer Strait Memorial Fund was established Thursday, but the family has not decided how the money will be used. The Straits also have a younger son.
George Strait, the son of a south Texas teacher, has parlayed his brand of unabashed Western swing into a string of hit records, including 'Unwound,' 'Fool Hearted Memory,' 'If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger' and 'Amarillo By Morning.'
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Despite his recording success in Nashville, Strait kept his residence in the San Marcos.
'I go to Nashville every once in a while to record or if I need to take care of some business,' he said in a 1984 interview with United Press International. 'I don't spend a whole lot of time there.'
