Franklin Woman Killed in Highway Collision

By Jeff Redman

A recently engaged Franklin woman, remembered Thursday as outgoing and friendly died hours after her compact vehicle slammed into an 18-wheeler in South Franklin Wednesday.

Police don't know yet what caused 19-year-old Jill Watson's 1995 Geo tracker to veer into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer on U.S. 441 South, but have speculated that something inside the vehicle may have distracted her.

Her seat was broken [before the wreck] and she had a dog with her, Sgt. Steve Apel of the Franklin Police Department told The Franklin Press Thursday. It could have been one or both of them.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Watson was heading north on U.S. 441 when her vehicle crossed into the south-bound lanes, Apel said.

Watson hit a 1995 Freight-liner tractor-trailer head-on, demolishing her vehicle. The truck, driven by James Adams, 24, of Belleview, Fla., was loaded with lumber. Adams was not hurt.

Apel said that neither vehicles speed had yet been determined, and alcohol or drugs apparently were not a factor.

Watson suffered severe head trauma, according to Apel. She died after being transported to Memorial Mission Hospital in Asheville via air ambulance.

People who knew Watson described her as someone who loved to talk.

She was outgoing, she could talk to anybody, Albert McDonald, Watson's fiancé told the Press Thursday.

He and Watson, a Crestview, Fla., native, had moved to Franklin about six months ago, McDonald said. We've been engaged for about three months. 

The couple, who had recently bought a new home, were planning a spring wedding, McDonald said. Watson had hoped to enroll at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee about the same time, he added.

Watson's brother Chris said that she was going to be working as a manager next week at Rib Country in Highlands, where she worked as a waitress.

She was a really caring person; she talked to anybody, he said. That's  just the way she was. 

Apel said the cause of the incident is still under investigation.

Wednesdays wreck was the first fatal accident to occur within Franklins town limits since January 1998, when an elderly Macon County couple died after a head-on collision on Riverview Street.

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