About $1M Found in Burned Tractor-Trailer in Harrison County

MARSHALL � After a week of counting the cash, Harrison County officials say about $1 million was found in a tractor-trailer that caught fire this past week on Interstate 20 before the driver was fatally struck by a pickup. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. �We can only estimate that there was approximately one million dollars within that vehicle,� Sheriff Tom McCool said Monday. Jay Webb, administrative lieutenant with the sheriff�s office, said the money was wrapped in plastic and then wrapped in a covering of aluminum foil. �Those funds had all the earmarks of being associated directly to organized crime � either U.S. Mafia or Mexican cartel � by the way it was being transported and packaged,� McCool said. He added that he and the Harrison County district attorney had been working to find the owner.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, 36-year-old Eric Royster of North Carolina, was fatally struck by a vehicle in the early morning hours this past Tuesday as he stood across the roadway, watching his rig burn after a mechanical failure. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, no charges will be filed against the driver of the pickup that struck Royster. McCool said the cash was found by officers and fire personnel responding to the scene on I-20 near Waskom. Officials said Royster�s co-driver said he didn�t know to whom the money found in the 18-wheeler belonged.