By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Two brothers died within minutes of each other early Wednesday in separate traffic crashes in a rural county where their father is a sheriff’s deputy.
Rory McDowell, 23, and Cory McDowell, 21, were pronounced dead a couple of miles from the home they shared with their father, Andy McDowell, in southwestern Kentucky’s Warren County.
Andy McDowell was not on duty at the time but was taken to Rory’s crash. He later was driven past Cory’s fiery crash, not knowing his younger son was involved in it.
“You take the most unimaginable hell that a parent could be told and double that,” Warren County Deputy Coroner Dwayne Lawrence said.
The brothers didn’t have any other siblings, he said.
Rory McDowell lost control of his pickup truck coming out of a curve and the vehicle struck a tree shortly before 1:30 a.m., authorities said.
About 15 minutes later, Cory McDowell’s 1984 Porsche veered off another rural road, went into a spin, struck a tree and burst into flames, authorities said.
The crashes remained under investigation, police said.
Authorities said the father had always doted on his sons. “That’s all he talked about was his boys,” said sheriff’s department Sgt. Tim Meyer. “He lived for his boys.”
Warren County is about 110 miles southwest of Louisville.