James Williford & Esther Seoanes


"I am going to make it different because James wouldn't want anybody else to die or anybody to suffer," said Esther Seoanes, James' wife. "I wanted to have a little James and now that is not ever going to happen."

Esther tells us about James and shares her experience



The high speed police pursuit was initiated after the car thief Reynaldo Hernandez stole a Ford F-250 from the local mall. The pursuit ended when Reynaldo slammed into James David Williford’s vehicle at 100 mph killing him on the scene.

... I heard someone screaming and realized it was me, but I couldn’t stop. Immediately, my body was numb and everything became surreal. I was walking and talking, but it didn’t matter because everything became insignificant. Life immediately lost its flavor, and disbelief and sadness filled my body.

... After running the multiple red lights Reynaldo Hernandez's stolen vehicle came to a halt when he smashed into an innocent bystander driving a Mitsubishi Lancer.

The innocent victim was James David Williford, my beautiful 32-year-old husband. James was on his way home to our house in south Austin. Upon striking the vehicle the impact of the deadly collision caused James' car to be flip multiple times.

Many bystanders watched in fear and amazement that this could happen in a residential area, and how their lives could have easily been taken as well. The stolen truck nearly collided with a Shell gas station pump. The Shell Gas Station employees were horrified to know that their lives had also been close to the end had the Ford truck collided with the gas pumps or crashed into their store.

James body lay dying from the traumatic impact of his injuries bleeding out from a pelvic, femur, and right skull fracture. Seconds later police arrived and immediately pursued the suspect on foot as witnesses informed them that Reynaldo had entered the General Dollar store.

As Reynaldo was apprehended several 100 feet away James was pronounced dead on the scene.

James had worked for the University Medical Center at Brackenridge Level one trauma hospital for approximately fifteen years. In his position as a material management expert he was able to assist the nurses and hospital staff personal in obtaining the necessary equipment they needed to care for their patients.

He was selfless and always gave his all. It is such a tragedy to know that the hospital where James dedicated so much time was not able to help him as his traumatic wounds were classified as deadly and no surgeon or amount of blood could bring him back. 

I was at work in Temple Texas, which is about 75 miles north of Austin. As my husband died just after 3:30 pm, I knew nothing about it. I called his cell phone at 6:30 pm when I got off work and told him I loved him and to give me a call.

I was staying over at a co-worker's house that night because my hours at the hospital were long and the drive was exhausting.

When I checked my phone again to look for James' message or call back I noticed that none of the texts or calls were from James. Instead friends that I normally do not hear from were leaving me text messages and immediately the sense of impending doom came over me.

I nervously called one of the friends back and she told me the unfathomable and I quote: “James has been in a terrible accident and you need to come home.”

I heard someone screaming and realized it was me, but I couldn’t stop. Immediately, my body was numb and everything became surreal. I was walking and talking, but it didn’t matter because everything became insignificant. Life immediately lost its flavor, and disbelief and sadness filled my body.

All I wanted was to hear that James was at the Brackenridge Hospital where he had given so many years of service. Unfortunately, after I asked and pleaded with my friend to please tell me James is at Brackenridge the answer continued to be NO!

James had not had the opportunity to make it to the hospital as his injuries were too critical and he died on the scene.