Three persons were killed in a crash Monday night near Foster Lake and three other persons were transported to area hospitals with varying degrees of injuries.
Linn County deputies and members of the Major Accident Investigation Team spent the night investigating the two-vehicle crash.
At about 9:20 p.m., the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a report of the crash, located on North River Road west of Lewis Creek Park.
Sweet Home police, LCSO deputies and Sweet Home paramedics and firefighters responded to find three persons dead at the scene.
According to Sheriff Dave Burright, killed in the accident were:
– 18-year-old Caleb Michael Thornton from Brownsville (Crawfordsville). Thornton was operating a 1996 Honda Accord that went out of control on a curve and slid broadside into the second vehicle. Impact was on the driver’s side of the Honda.
– 21-year-old Natasha Jac-queline Kukla from Sweet Home who was a passenger in the back seat of the Honda.
– 21-year-old Amy Lynn Maisto of Albany. She also was a passenger in the back seat of the Honda.
A fourth passenger, 19-year-old James Mathew Reynolds of Sweet Home was seated in the front passenger seat and was severely injured. He was transported to good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis.
The initial investigation indicated that Thornton’s vehicle was traveling westbound at a high rate of speed when it lost control on a curve and went into a broadside skid. The skidding vehicle drifted into the path of the oncoming 1997 Toyota 4-Runner which was driven by 32-year-old Jeremy William Orr of Sweet Home. Passengers included Orr’s wife, Karen, 40, and their seven-year-old son, Dalton.
Mrs. Orr was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital and their son was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene.
Rescuers at the scene did not believe their injuries were life threatening. Mr. Orr rode with his son in the medic unit to the hospital but did not require immediate care.
All three of the deceased were taken to Workman and Steckly funeral Chapel in Sweet Home.