ROLLING PRAIRIE, IN : Goshen woman among three killed in U.S. 20 crash near Rolling Prairie on Friday, March 17th 2017

Three people were killed when the car they were in wound up in the path of an oncoming semi-truck on U.S. 20 near Rolling Prairie Friday morning.

There were no survivors in the car. The semi driver was not injured, said LaPorte County Police Capt. Mike Kellems.

Those in the car who were killed have been identified as driver Judith Peachey, 22, of Goshen; front seat passenger Rosalie Koehn, believed to be in her teens; and back seat passenger Lani Nace, 17, both of Greensburg, Kan.

The accident happened at about 7 a.m. at 300 East, about a mile west of Rolling Prairie.

There was a mixture of freezing precipitation at the time and road conditions on the four- lane stretch of highway were described by Kellems as ‘’pretty sloppy. Very icy.’’

However, Kellems said it was too early to say if weather played a factor in the crash. Alcohol and drugs have been ruled out as a possible cause.

The westbound 2008 Pontiac G6 was hit on the passenger's side by the front of the eastbound semi truck, a 1992 Volvo believed to be hauling a steel coil and driven by Joseph M. Green, 41, Mishawaka.

"What sequence of events led up to that, we don’t have the answer for that right now,’’ Kellems said.

Traffic on U.S. 20 was allowed to go through after the crash, but it was later closed from Indiana 39 to the U.S 20/Indiana 2 intersection to allow for clean up of the wreckage and to investigate the crash site.

Kristin Kleist of LaPorte said the tractor was on top of the car as she was driving past the crash site on her way to take her young son to a babysitter Friday morning.

This is the second triple fatality on that stretch of U.S 20 since the end of January after a string of other bad motor vehicle crashes in that same area in recent months.

"If the weather is bad and the traffic volume is high, we need to slow down and pay attention to our driving,” Kellems said. “That’s where the solution lies.”

Source :
Goshen woman among three killed in U.S. 20 crash near Rolling Prairie