Early Sunday morning in North Austin, a grim scene unfolded on the 11600 block of North Interstate 35, as the Austin Police Department commenced a homicide investigation following a vehicle crash, according to KXAN. Officers responded to a high-priority call at about 3:46 a.m. after the two-vehicle collision was reported, and upon arrival, they discovered one person inside a vehicle unconscious with "apparent trauma to the body ... not related to the crash."

All efforts to resuscitate the victim proved futile, and the individual was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:14 a.m., turning the accident site into something more sinister, KVUE reports. As the morning sun began to light the skies, officers, homicide detectives, and the Crime Scene Unit descended like a sudden storm upon the highway, searching for clues and piecing together the moments that led to the city's ninth homicide of the year.

The northbound section of I-35 just south of Tech Ridge Boulevard was temporarily closed to traffic as the investigation ensued, and the Austin Police Department encouraged motorists to seek alternative routes to bypass the scene; and though life on the interstate was disrupted, the true disruption lay in the violence that had erupted so unexpectedly in the still of night.

Details about potential suspects remain scarce and while no one has been taken into custody, the other driver involved in the crash, who has not been implicated in the homicide, is being cooperative with the authorities, and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) warned of expected rolling closures along the highway until the later hours of the morning, indicating the depth and detail of the police's search for evidence KVUE notes.