PUTNAM COUNTY
Another person was killed in a crash over the weekend, making the third to die on Lake Country roads in two weeks.
A Madison woman died, and her husband was seriously injured in a single-car wreck during the wee hours of the morning Sunday on Lower Harmony Road in Eatonton, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
“The accident was discovered by a deputy while on routine patrol at 4:27 a.m.,” Sills said, noting Patrick Isbell was the deputy who came upon the scene.
Julie Leigh Simpson, 54, of Billups Avenue in Madison, had already died when Isbell discovered the wreckage. Her husband, Gabriel David Simpson, 57, of the same address, was taken by ambulance to Piedmont Athens Regional for treatment. He remained hospitalized at The Lake Oconee News' press time Tuesday afternoon, according to Sills.
The Simpsons were traveling in their 2021 Subaru Forrester on Harmony Road with Gabriel David driving, “probably going to U.S. 441,” Sills said. Evidence on the road indicated the driver lost control of the SUV when it came upon the sharp curve at Lower Harmony Road.
“They went onto Lower Harmony and overturned,” Sills said. “The accident remains under investigation.”
Gabriel Simpson is well-known in the Greensboro area as a bartender at the National Tavern in Reynolds. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with expenses: gofundme.com/f/supporting-gabe-Simpson.
Linda Kelley, 75, of Milledgeville, was killed May 10 in a head-on collision on Pea Ridge Road; and Devonte Abner, 25, of Lithonia, died May 18 in a single-car crash on I-20 in Morgan County.