Crash Injures Former Honey Queen

A former Breathitt County Honey Festival Queen and 1986 graduate of Breathitt High School was critically injured in a two-vehicle crash in Wolfe County that left one dead on Thursday, March 12.

Candice Gabbard, 58, of Jackson, was flown by helicopter to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington on Thursday after the crash near the intersection of Highway 15 and Mattie Graham Road at Bethany.

According to police reports issued by Post 8 in Morehead, Gabbard was traveling south on Highway 15 in a 2017 Red Jeep when she crossed the centerline into the northbound lane and hit a 2010 Toyota operated by Courtney Berry, 86, of Campton at approximately 4:12 p.m.

Crews from the Wolfe County Sheriff’s Department responded to the collision, determined it was likely fatal, and requested the investigative assistance of the Kentucky State Police.

Mr. Berry sustained severe injuries and was transported to Kentucky River Medical Center in Jackson by Breathitt-Wolfe Ambulance Service.  He died shortly after arrival from “multiple blunt force traumas” sustained in the collision.

Gabbard was airlifted from the scene and was listed as in critical condition in the last Kentucky State Police Press release. 

Candice Gabbard is the daughter of Sue Gabbard and the late Earl C. Gabbard of Dry Bread.

  In August 1988, Gabbard won the title of Breathitt County Honey Queen and served for a year in that office.  She later served as the pageant coordinator for the annual county-wide festival in 1992.

The collision is being reconstructed and remains under investigation by Trooper Leoncio Leal.