A 67-year-old Houston man died Friday after a pickup crossed into oncoming traffic on a Starr County road.
The crash happened on FM 755, a farm road that connects small communities in rural Starr County. It shows how fast a normal drive can turn deadly on a narrow, two-lane road in South Texas.
Farm-to-market roads like FM 755 wind through ranch land across Starr County. A single wrong move on one of them can end in tragedy within seconds.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers said the crash happened around 1:40 p.m. on Friday, July 17, 2026. It happened on FM 755, south of FM 1017, near the community of La Gloria.
The man who died was Noelio Garza Peña, 67, of Houston. He was riding as a passenger in a gray Dodge 1500 pickup. That truck was headed south on FM 755 at the time. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
DPS said a silver Dodge Ram pickup was headed north on FM 755 at the same time. The Ram was pulling a trailer behind it. Troopers said the gray Dodge 1500 crossed the center line into the northbound lane.
The Ram driver saw the danger and tried to swerve. He could not get out of the way in time. The gray Dodge 1500 slammed into the trailer the Ram was towing.
The driver of the gray Dodge 1500 was hurt in the crash. DPS said that driver went to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. The driver of the silver Dodge Ram was not hurt. That driver did not need medical treatment.
FM 755 near La Gloria is a narrow, two-lane road. Roads like this one cut through ranch land across Starr County. They often have no shoulder and only a painted line to separate traffic going opposite directions. When a driver drifts even a little, there is nowhere to go.
Drivers often have only seconds to react in a situation like this. That appears to be what happened on FM 755 on Friday, based on what DPS has said so far.
Other news outlets also picked up the story. A Valley Central report described it as a major vehicle crash that shut down the road near La Gloria. A Houston television station also reported on the death of the Houston man.
DPS is still investigating what happened on FM 755. Troopers have not released the names of the two drivers involved. No citations have been announced. No official cause has been given for why the gray Dodge 1500 crossed into the other lane.
The case remains open as of this report. DPS has not said when the investigation will wrap up. Any citations or findings would come only after troopers finish their review of the crash.
For now, the death of Noelio Garza Peña stands as the only confirmed fact in this case. The rest is still being pieced together by state troopers.
His trip through Starr County ended on a rural stretch of FM 755.
