OLD MONROE, Mo. – Three teenagers and a young woman were killed late Saturday night in a head-on collision on Highway 79 in Lincoln County.
According to a report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the crash happened just after 11:45 p.m. on Highway 79 near the town of Old Monroe, just south of Route C.
A 2016 Chevrolet Impala occupied by four teenagers was traveling southbound on the two-lane highway. The driver, a 16-year-old, attempted to pass a vehicle in front of her, and pulled into the northbound lane.
The Impala traveled into the path of an oncoming 2022 Hyundai Elantra, and the vehicles smashed into one another.
The driver of the Elantra, identified as Racheal Neldon of Elsberry, was pronounced dead at the scene. Neldon was 23.
The driver of the Impala and two passengers, ages 16 and 15, were killed in the collision. A fourth passenger, an 18-year-old from Wright City, was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital with serious injuries.
The crash report indicates Neldon was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, but the two passengers in the Impala who died were not. State troopers did not say if the driver or the 18-year-old were wearing a seat belt.