3 children among the 5 dead in crash near Mount Ayr
Lucas Grundmeier, lgrundme@dmreg.com 11:23 p.m. CDT July 8, 2016
Three children, including two toddlers, were among the five people killed in a collision at an intersection west of Mount Ayr in southern Iowa on Friday morning, the Iowa State Patrol said.
The crash happened just before 10:45 a.m., said State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Nate Ludwig. An SUV going north on Ringgold County Road P27 did not stop at a stop sign at Iowa Highway 2 and was broadsided by a rock utility truck, Ludwig said.
Both vehicles ended up in a ditch. There were seven people inside the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander, and five died. The truck driver was not injured.
The adults killed were the driver, Renea Baker, 49, of Redding and Sydney King, 30, also of Redding. The children who died were Briane Baker, 12, and Hayden King, 2, both of Redding, and Elizabeth Lakey, 4, of Grant City, Mo.
Willy Baker, 9, of Redding was flown to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines in critical condition. The seventh SUV occupant, a 1-year-old child, wasn't identified late Friday but has been released from a hospital. The relationships among the Bakers and Kings in the vehicle also were not immediately specified.
An Iowa State Patrol crash report said the six people who were harmed were using safety restraints.
The crash happened about 4 miles west of Mount Ayr and is being investigated. Redding is a town of fewer than 100 people southwest of Mount Ayr and just north of the Missouri border.
The Iowa State Patrol, Ringgold County Sheriff's Office and Mount Ayr rescue workers assisted at the scene.
At least 193 people have been fatally injured on Iowa roads this year, a pace over 35 percent ahead of 2015 deaths.
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Victims identified in fatal crash that killed 5 people
UPDATED 8:09 PM CDT Jul 08, 2016
RINGGOLD COUNTY, Iowa —Five people were killed in a crash on Highway 2 near Mount Ayr on Friday, the Iowa State Patrol said.
The accident happened around 10:45 a.m., when an SUV carrying seven passengers ran a stop sign.
A truck hit the SUV, sending both vehicles into the ditch.
Iowa State Patrol officials released the names of the victims:
Renae Baker, 49, of Redding, who was driving the SUV, Briane Baker, 12, of Redding, Sydney King, 30, of Redding, Hayden King, 2, of Redding, and Elizabeth Taylor Lakey, 4, of Grant City, Missouri, were killed in the crash.
Willy Baker, 9, of Redding, was transported to Blank Hospital.
The driver of the truck, Ted Zacharias, 28, of Atlantic, was uninjured in the crash.
A 1-year-old has been treated and released from the hospital, and another victim remains in critical condition, according to Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig.
The crash remains under investigation
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Shock, sadness after 3 children, 2 women die in south Iowa crash
Kelly McGowan and Lucas Grundmeier, lgrundme@dmreg.com 12:05 a.m. CDT July 9, 2016
A crash that killed three children and two women in south Iowa on Friday is sending shock waves through small communities in the area.
The crash occurred at an intersection west of Mount Ayr, a small southern Iowa town. Victims were from Redding, Iowa, and Grant City, Mo., which are both within 30 miles of the crash site.
"Everybody is just shocked and saddened," Mount Ayr resident Kim Scharfenkamp said. "It's just heartbreaking."
Driver Renea Baker, 49, and Sydney King, 30, both of Redding, were killed along with Briane Baker, 12, and Hayden King, 2, both of Redding, and Elizabeth Lakey, 4, of Grant City.
The SUV they were in was broadsided by a rock utility truck after the SUV did not stop at a stop sign at Iowa Highway 2 while going north on Ringgold County Road P27, according to the Iowa State Patrol.
Willy Baker, 9, of Redding, was flown to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines in critical condition, and a 1-year-old passenger was released from the Ringgold County Hospital late Friday.
The truck driver was not injured.
Scharfenkamp is a second cousin to Baker's husband, Richard Snethen, and said the tightknit community is reeling.
"It's very tragic," she said. "It touched everyone in the community."
Renea Baker was Sydney King's aunt through marriage, Scharfenkamp said. King was reportedly babysitting Elizabeth and the 1-year-old.
Scharfenkamp works at a nursing home where, she said, Renea Baker also worked before becoming a special education teacher in the Creston Community School District.
"I got the news that there had been a horrible accident," Scharfenkamp said. "Your heart just sinks when you see the Life Flight go out, because you know it'll be someone you know. ... They were really good people. It's terribly sad."