I flew EMS out of San Antonio and we made very frequent trips to Uvalde area as we did lots of accident scene work as well as the usual hospital transfer business.
Trust me....it gets very dark outside of the towns as some Ranches out that way are larger than most UK Counties.
When doing VFR flights at night which were quite common....I tended to follow the highways for a bit of surface light reference rather than rely upon instruments in the really dark areas.
Add in some haze....and it could get interesting quick.
West of Uvalde....the World ends until you get to Del Rio.
I have taken off from Del Rio at 3AM....on a Gin clear night....and have seen the glow of the lights of San Antonio after just a few minutes in cruise.
A Jet Ranger at night in that terrain....at almost 2AM....having taken off with the bright spotlights shining in your face as you departed....that is a very bad combination.
Such a tragic loss to the families of the newly weds and the pilot.