lit a candle 1h agoDidn't know him, just read this today. Thirty nine years old. That line about him being able to fix almost anything got me, my dad was the same way.
Their story
Sebastian Cabot Leith II, known to family and friends as Bandsome, was a Beaumont, Texas instrument technician whose life was cut short in a hit and run crash on 12 August 2023. He was 39. More than three years later, in September 2026, local news returned to his name when…
Sebastian Cabot Leith II, known to family and friends as Bandsome, was a Beaumont, Texas instrument technician whose life was cut short in a hit and run crash on 12 August 2023. He was 39. More than three years later, in September 2026, local news returned to his name when the driver charged in the collision stood trial and was sentenced, bringing a long wait for accountability to a close for his widow, children and extended family.
Leith was born on 14 October 1983 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Lizabeth Gail Perkins and Sebastian Cabot Leith. From an early age his family called him Bandsome. He grew up moving between Georgia, Oklahoma and Nevada, excelled in track and field, baseball and basketball, and finished high school at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas. Those who knew him described a competitive, mechanically gifted young man who could fix almost anything and who treated hard work as a point of pride.
Over about 14 years he built a career with contractors across Southeast Texas, rising from instrument fitter to instrument technician and earning multiple NCCER certifications along the way. In his final years he worked as a Senior E and I Technician at Lion Elastomers in Orange. Off the clock he loved LSU Tiger football, UFC fights, working on cars, singing karaoke, watching his daughter Harper play soccer and throwing a baseball in the backyard with his son Bash.
He met April Sedtal in December 2009. They married and welcomed Harper Arabella in 2012 and Sebastian Cabot Leith III in 2015. Friends and family said his greatest joy was providing for them so April could stay home with the children, and that evenings often meant cooking together, home projects and long talks about their future. He stayed close to his mother Liz, his siblings and his late father Chebby, with whom he spent hours on the phone talking about life and cars.
In the early hours of 12 August 2023, Beaumont police said, Leith was driving his 2016 Acura MDX west on Phelan Boulevard when a gold SUV turning left onto Calder Avenue struck his vehicle. The Acura flipped and he was ejected; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver left and later spoke with investigators. Leith's funeral was held at Broussard's Mortuary on McFaddin Avenue, with burial at Restlawn Memorial Park in Vidor. In September 2026, 12NewsNow reported that Dustin Knight was tried and sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the fatal hit and run.
He is remembered not only for the manner of his death but for the life he built: a skilled tradesman, a devoted husband and father, and a brother and son whose absence his family said would be felt for years.
Biography adapted from Broussard's Mortuary / Legacy.com obituary; KFDM reporting on the 2023 crash; 12NewsNow coverage of the 2026 trial and sentencing.
In their own words
“His greatest joy was spending time with his family.”
Broussard's Mortuary / Legacy.com obituary
“He will be remembered for his hard work ethic, ability to fix anything and being extremely mechanically inclined.”
Broussard's Mortuary / Legacy.com obituary
“Bandsome was smart, strong, forgiving, generous, hardworking, competitive and completely hilarious at times.”
Family remembrance in his obituary
Photos
1Sebastian Cabot Leith II, family portrait from his Broussard's Mortuary obituary
by People Forever
same, my uncle was an instrument tech too, that skill is rare