"Singer, 21, Killed, 2 Hurt in Wreck"

-- Article printed from December 22, 1997 issue
of The Times-Picayune, a newspaper in southeast Louisiana  



    Amie Comeaux, a country and western singer who sang the national anthem
at Saints games as a young girl, died Sunday when her car ran off a
rain-slick highway near Lacombe and hit a tree, police said. She was 21.
    Two passengers, Ida Wattigney, 71, and Megan Blanchard, 4, were injured
and brought to area hospitals, said Sgt. Walter Clement of State Police
Troop L.
    Wattigney, of Gonzales, was in serious condition at Columbia Lakeview
Regional Medical Center in Covington. The girl was taken to Slidell Memorial
Hospital with minor injuries.
    Everyone in the car was wearing a seat belt, police said.
    The accident happened at 1:25 p.m. in the westbound lane of Interstate
12 outside Lacombe, State Police said.
    Comeaux, who died instantly, was trying to change lanes and skidded off
the highway, which was closed for a period of time, officials said. An
autopsy will be performed, said Joy Raybon, an investigator for the St.
Tammany Parish Coroner's Office.
    Comeaux recorded her debut album "Moving Out" at 17. She began singing
in public in her hometown of Port Allen at 2. By the time she was 9, she was
singing the national anthem at Saints games.
    Comeaux was one of three people killed in highway accidents in St.
Tammany Sunday.
    A male driver and female passenger from Michigan were killed in a
two-car accident at 1:40 p.m. on Interstate 10, near the state line outside
Slidell, Raybon said.
    They died at the scene.
    The rain played a role in the wreck, police said. Their car left a
westbound lane, crossed the median and collided with an eastbound van driven
by Earl Bourgeois, 73, of Mississippi.
    He was not injured, but his wife, Joyce, 72, suffered a broken pelvis
and leg and was reported in serious condition at an area hospital. Their
daughter, Paulette Candebat, 45, of Bay St. Louis, was not injured.