(WBAP/KLIF) — WFAA News 8 — KAUFMAN, Texas — The truck driver accused in a deadly 2025 crash on Interstate 20 in Kaufman County that killed five people has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Alexis Osmani Gonzalez-Companioni entered the plea in Kaufman County court, resolving a case that drew statewide attention after investigators said he fell asleep behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler and slammed into stopped traffic near Terrell. The June 28, 2025, crash triggered a chain-reaction pileup involving multiple vehicles and several commercial trucks.
Authorites Gonzalez-Companioni, a resident of Florida, told investigators he had fallen asleep before the crash.
Three generations of the McKellar family from Fort Worth were in a truck that was hit first. The crash instantly killed parents Zabar and Shawn, their 15-year-old son Kason, and grandfather Billy McKellar. A fifth person, Nicole Gregory from Dallas, was also killed in a separate Jeep Compass.
A Kaufman County grand jury later indicted Gonzalez-Companioni on multiple felony charges, including manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
In that Terrell crash, the Hope Trans driver,
Gonzalez-Companioni was hauling a U.S. Postal Service load that originated in Atlanta — more than 700 miles from the crash site. He was working for Hope Trans, an Orlando-based trucking company that has since been shut down.
The crash became part of WFAA’s broader investigation into trucking safety failures, including concerns about driver fatigue, oversight gaps and whether some carriers continue operating despite repeated safety violations.
Gonzalez-Companioni’s guilty plea brings the criminal case to a close, though civil litigation tied to the crash continues.
(Copyright 2026 WBAP/KLIF Newsroom News. All rights reserved. Contains material from WFAA News 8.)
