{"id":345847,"date":"2026-06-22T17:40:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345847\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T17:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:40:26","slug":"texas-woman-killed-after-automated-tesla-allegedly-drives-into-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345847\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas woman killed after automated Tesla allegedly drives into home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Texas woman died after a Tesla<\/a> allegedly crashed into her home.<\/p>\n

Martha Avila, 76, died June 19 after a man driving a Tesla allegedly drove into her home in Katy, Texas, a Houston suburb, according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office news release<\/a>. Avila was life flighted to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.<\/p>\n

At around 8 p.m. CT on June 19, a man was driving his Tesla using the vehicle’s automated driving assistance system, when the vehicle left the road, crashing through a home and striking Avila, who was inside, according to the news release. The sheriff’s office determined the man was not intoxicated during the crash.<\/p>\n

\"Martha<\/p>\n

Martha Avila, 76, died on Friday, June 19, 2026 after a Tesla drove into her home in Kathy, Texas.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage<\/a> captured by a camera on the affected home, shared by Avila’s daughter Jennifer Barbour on Facebook, shows the vehicle flying off the road before striking the home.<\/p>\n

“She was the best grandma anyone could’ve asked for. A second mother for my kids and a blessing,” Barbour told USA TODAY. “We are heartbroken.”<\/p>\n

Barbour told Houston television station KHOU 11<\/a> she was in the backyard at the time of the crash. She found her husband and children before discovering her mother had been struck.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From left to right, Jennifer Barbour and her mother Martha Avila. Avila, 76, died on Friday, June 19, 2026 after a Tesla drove into her home in Kathy, Texas.<\/p>\n

The case is currently under investigation. USA TODAY reached out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for more information on June 22.<\/p>\n

GoFundMe created to finance temporary housing<\/p>\n

The now-boarded-up home was occupied by two parents, three young children and Avila at the time of the crash, the family told local television station KHOU 11<\/a>. Barbour told USA TODAY on June 22 the family is living in a hotel and looking for a short-term rental, as the house is inhabitable due to structural issues.<\/p>\n

On June 20, a GoFundMe fundraiser<\/a> was created for Avila’s family to elevate the cost of temporary housing for those affected by the crash and funeral expenses. As of June 22, more than $23,000 had been raised of the $28,000 goal.<\/p>\n

This story was updated to add new information.<\/p>\n

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at\u00a0gcross@usatoday.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas woman killed after automated Tesla allegedly drives into home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas woman died after a Tesla allegedly crashed into her home. Martha Avila, 76, died June 19…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[105096,123287,6958,123284,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-345847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-harris-county-sheriff39s-office","tag-jennifer-barbour","tag-katy","tag-martha-avila","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}