Vandalized memorial honoring man who died on Katy Freeway leaves his family heartbroken

HOUSTON - A family already grieving the death of a young man killed on the Katy Freeway is now heartbroken all over again, after someone did what they call "disgusting and disturbing". Someone destroyed the memorial they set up for him.

It happened on I-10 near Campbell Road.

Vandalized memorial

What we know:

Just recently, Clayton Vaughn's mom decorated the roadside memorial for Valentine's Day for her 21-year-old son who spent his last moments alive there, but someone came along and viciously vandalized the memorial.

Clayton was tragically killed in April 2023 after a tire that was in someone else's trailer went hurtling onto the highway and smashed through the windshield of the car Clayton was a passenger in.

What they're saying:

"We couldn't protect him on that freeway. Now we can't even protect his memorial. I've heard of people stealing stuff off of memorial crosses, as sad as that is. I've never heard of someone destroying a memorial cross and trying to set fire to it. It wasn't in anyone's way. It wasn't even on a path where there's a sidewalk," cries Clayton's aunt Sarah Richard.

"I was just devastated at what it looked like that somebody so evil would do something like this to something so special to us. They broke the cross in half. They burnt my son's picture that was attached to the cross. We had some little rocks that we had gotten together and painted something really meaningful and special on each rock. They threw those everywhere," explains Clayton's Mom, Rebecca Dittmar.

"We have his ashes. That's what we have. There's no cemetery to go to. Sadly, we have to come right here along the side of the freeway," says Aunt Sarah.  

"This is out of the way. It wasn't hurting or bothering anybody. So why would anyone want to do something like this?" asks the mom in mourning.  

"I just pray we can find who did this, and they'll be charged or that they'll see this and see the hurt they caused us," adds Clayton's Aunt.

Hope for justice

What's next:

The owner of the tire that flew onto the freeway, killing Clayton, has been located. Clayton's mom has filed a civil suit and is hoping for criminal charges against both the owner of the tire and the person who destroyed the memorial.

"I know where my son is, and I know who he's with, and he's happy, and he would not want me to be sad or angry, so I'm trying my best not to be. I just want to find out who did it, clean it back up, fix it back up so it's our special place again for my son".

Clayton Vaughn leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter. His family says the Easter Sunday before Clayton was killed, he re-dedicated his life to Jesus Christ.

There are several cameras in the area, so police could be close to finding out who destroyed the memorial.