Advocate newspaper carrier dies in I-10 crash

A newspaper carrier for The Advocate died early Sunday in a crash on Interstate 10 just west of Essen Lane, a city police spokesman said.

Kelvin Jacobs, 48, 3952 Maribel Drive, was driving a 1996 Chevrolet G20 van east in the 1000 block of I-10 about 3:30 a.m. when the van veered off the road, crossed a ditch and ended up in the woods, Cpl. Tommy Stubbs said in a news release.

Investigators were unable to determine if Jacobs died as a result of the accident or because of some other factor, Stubbs said.

Jacobs was not wearing a seat belt, Stubbs said.

Jacobs worked for The Advocate as a home delivery carrier for about a decade, said A.C. Speziale, an Advocate home delivery zone manager and Jacobs’ immediate boss.

Jacobs delivered about 650 papers daily to the Southdowns area near Perkins Road and Stanford Avenue and the Glenmore neighborhood, near Webb Park, Speziale said.

Jacobs, who also held a job as a maintenance worker, would call his bosses anytime he had an extra paper because he knew he had missed a house, Speziale said.

“He was as good natured as he could be and very, very conscientious about his work performance,” Speziale said.

Speziale said subscribers who called about late paper deliveries in the area Sunday asked specifically what happened to Jacobs and were concerned about him.

“He knew his subscribers,” Speziale said.