Newlyweds killed in collision only moments after wedding

ORANGE COUNTY, TEXAS — (KFDM) - A 19-year-old man and his 20-year-old bride died only minutes after their wedding in Orange County when their car and a pickup truck collided as they were leaving the Justice of the Peace courtroom and pulling onto a highway.

The sister and mother of the groom told KFDM/Fox 4 News they were behind the newlyweds' car and witnessed the crash, and the same J.P. who married the couple went to the scene when they were killed.

Harley Joe Morgan, 19, and Rhiannon Boudreaux Morgan, 20, both of Vidor, died in the collision in the 2300 block of Highway 87 South at about 3 p.m. Friday as they were pulling out of the private drive of Justice of the Peace Joy Dubose-Simonton, according to the Orange Police Department. Her courtroom is at the Orange County Airport.

Police say Harley Morgan was driving the 2004 Chevrolet and a man was driving a 2015 Ford F-250 pickup truck towing a trailer carrying a tractor and traveling south on Highway 87. Police say Harley Morgan was exiting the private drive when the vehicles collided.

The young couple died at the scene. The man driving the pickup truck wasn't hurt.

The Orange Police Department Detective Division is investigating the crash.

Cassidy Wood's Friday 10 p.m. story

A young married couple killed only minutes after saying their vows.

19-year-old Harley Joe Morgan and his bride, 20-year-old Rhiannon Marie Morgan, were leaving a justice of the peace courtroom Friday afternoon in Orange County, Texas, east of Beaumont. While they were pulling out of the driveway from the JP court, their car and a pickup truck collided. They died at the scene.

KFDM/Fox 4's Cassidy Wood reports, the groom’s mother and sister were behind the couple and saw the collision.

"They had just gotten married," said Kennia Lashawna Morgan, the groom's mother. "They haven't even been married for five minutes."

19-year-old Harley Morgan and 20-year-old Rhiannon Morgan.

High school sweethearts got married Friday afternoon in the courtroom of Orange County Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 Joy Dubose-Simonton.

"Those two babies," said Kennia Morgan. "The only thing that they wanted was to get married and start their life. The two of them had so many dreams."

Dreams suddenly taken away.

The ceremony had just ended. The newlyweds were leaving the JP court at the airport and following behind them, the groom's mother.

"I was here and I watched it happen," said Morgan.

The couple pulled out from the private JP drive onto Highway 87.

The driver of an oncoming Ford pickup truck collided with their car.

"I watched my baby die," said Morgan. "I'm still wearing my son's blood because I was trying my best to rip him and her out of the car."

A mother desperately trying to save two lives that only minutes earlier were becoming one.

"I witnessed my own worst nightmare," said Morgan. "That's an image that will haunt me the rest of my life. I won't forget it. It will never go away. I will see that truck hit my baby and kill my baby every night of my life, the rest of the time that I'm on earth."

The high school sweethearts married in JP court had future plans for a larger ceremony.

"They wanted a Christmas wedding. The 20th of December," said Morgan.

"The 20th of December is when we were going to have the big ceremony with the flowers, all the friends, rest of the family, everything," said Christina Fontenot, the groom's sister.

A family that was looking ahead, with a message to all of us to live in the present.

"Go home and hug your family tonight," said Kennia Morgan. "If you have kids, go home and hug them, because now I don't have my kid. I don't have the one thing in my life that made me happy."

What was supposed to be the happiest day of this young couple's life, now gone in an instant.

"Even if you're mad, hug your family," said Kennia Morgan. "Love your family. Even if they've made you mad, make amends. Don't go to bed angry because you don't know. You don't know how fast you can lose that person."

The driver of the pickup truck wasn’t hurt. The same JP that married the couple went to the scene where they died.