A Vicksburg man described as a kind, loving person who enjoyed cooking was killed one day short of his 58th birthday Monday on Interstate 20 when his 1993 Jeep left the highway and struck a tree west of Bovina.

Willie L. Williams, 57, 1529 South St., was pronounced dead at the River Region Medical Center emergency room from trauma to the chest and abdomen, Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said.

He said Williams’ body was taken to McFarland Funeral Home in Delhi, La. He said no autopsy was planned.

Williams’ passenger, Willie F. Williams, 43, no relation, was treated for injuries and released, hospital spokesman Allen Karel said.

Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Cpl. Odis Easterling said the accident occurred about 12:53 a.m. Monday. He said both men were wearing seat belts. He said the cause of the wreck remains under investigation.

Corrine Holmes, Willie L. Williams’ sister, said her brother was on his way home from Bovina when the wreck occurred. She did not know why he was out late.

“He would have been 58 today. This has really been a shock,” she said.

She said her brother was born in Delta, La., and was the oldest of six children.

“He tried to be mother and father to all of us,” she said. “He was a kind, loving person and a great cook. When I was sick last year, he brought me food. He was a very neat person. If you went to his house, you had to put everything back where you found it.”

Her brother, she said, was known as “Cowboy,” a nickname he acquired for his basketball skills in high school. She said he had been injured several years ago while working in Jackson and recently had been approved for disability.

She said one of his sons, Z’Mar Garner, 21, came from Tallulah last year to live with his father, “and he helped him get a job at MIDD-West (Industries). He would take him to work and help him out.”

She said his other son, Roderick Garner, 19, lives in Tallulah.

Willie L. Williams’ death is the fourth traffic-related fatality on county roads this year. Christopher Lynn, 19, 2217 Glass Road, was killed Feb. 22 in a wreck on Redbone Road.

Dudley Shane Scrimpshire, 42, of Moselle, was killed March 13 when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Interstate 20 near the Bovina exit. Roger Dale Curtis, 26, of Collins was arrested several days later and charged in Scrimshire’s death.

Damon Keshoun Brown, 21, 5698 Gibson Road, was killed in a one-car wreck on June 12 on Gibson Road.

Two traffic fatalities have occurred in the city this year.

Jenilyn Hall, 79, 5543 Gibson Road, died Jan. 17 from a wreck 10 days earlier on I-20 near Halls Ferry Road; and Latoshia Haggan, 31, 122 John Allen St., died Feb. 20 in a wreck near Old Highway 27 and North Frontage Road.