Uniontown native, former K-State football player dies in Illinois wreck

A former Uniontown man and K-State football player died in a car accident earlier this week in Carbondale, Ill.

Cory Lee Warren, 26, of Marion, Ill., has been identified as the person killed in a traffic accident Tuesday on Cedar Creek Road in Jackson County, according to a Friday story in The Southern Illinoisan.

Warren's vehicle drove off the road, struck a tree and caught fire. An autopsy was conducted Wednesday and the exact cause of death is pending a final report from the forensic pathologist, the story said.

Warren was employed in the athletic department at Southern Illinois University. He was driving a university-owned vehicle at the time of the crash, the story said.

A burned vehicle with the body of the driver still in the driver's seat was found Tuesday morning by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. Police said it appears the minivan was westbound on Cedar Creek Road when its driver failed to negotiate a right-hand curve, left the road and struck a tree, the story said.

The vehicle went down an embankment and caught fire. By the time the crash was discovered, the fire had already burned out.

The exact time of the crash has not been determined, but it is believed to have taken place during the overnight hours of June 9-10, the story said.

The SIU Department of Public Safety assisted with the investigation.

Warran had remained with the SIU program as an assistant coach after spending the last two seasons as a graduate assistant in charge of outside linebackers under head coach Dale Lennon.

Warren was a linebacker at Kansas State University in 2006-07 before a back injury ended his playing career. He then served as student-assistant coach under head coach Bill Snyder from 2008-10. He coached the offensive line at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College in 2011, the Southern Illinoisan story said.

Warren graduated from Uniontown High School. He was a member of the Uniontown United Methodist Church.

Funeral services for Warren are scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday in the gymnasium of West Bourbon Elementary School in Uniontown, with burial following at the Uniontown Cemetery.

Warren's wife, Kristina, survives of the home.

A complete obituary was published in the Friday edition of Tribune.