Published: June 29, 2009 04:23 pm      

Deadly weekend:

Marlow woman dies near Chickasha; local teen drowns in Payne County; 10 people die in gruesome I-44 pile up

Staff and wire reports:



It was a deadly weekend in Oklahoma. Since Friday, at least 15 people died in traffic accidents, including a 31-year-old Marlow woman died Friday after a traffic collision on U.S. 81 near Chickasha.

And a Chickasha teen drowned Saturday while swimming in Payne County.

The deadliest accident occurred Saturday in northeastern Oklahoma, when a traffic pileup on I-44 claimed 10 victims.

Here is a rundown of this weekend’s traffic fatalities and drowning incident:

• Audra Lee Viola Rico, 31, of Marlow died when her southbound car crossed the center line of U.S. 81 four miles north of Chickasha and struck a northbound tractor-trailer about 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to a patrol report.

Rico died at the scene. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not identified but was not injured.

Both drivers were wearing their seat belts, troopers said.

• The horrific chain-reaction accident on Interstate 44 in far northeast Oklahoma claimed its 10th vict8m

Tina Freeman of Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., confirmed on Sunday that Shelby Hayes had died.

The 35-year-old Frisco, Texas, resident was admitted to the hospital in critical condition with head, internal and external injuries stemming from Friday's crash near Miami.

A tractor-trailer headed east on the highway slammed into cars that had stopped on the highway because of a previous accident, trapping some victims in wreckage for up to nine hours.

Oklahoma City residents Oral Hooks, 69; Earlene Hooks, 63; Antonio Hooks, 42; Dione Hooks, 41; Phoenix, Ariz., residents Ricardo Reyes, 39, and Ernestina Reyes; Frisco, Texas, residents Randall Hayes, 38, and Ethan Hayes, 7, and Cynthia Olson, 55, of Crossroads, Texas, were pronounced dead on Friday.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a routine criminal investigation is under way.

• Oklahoma City police say a motorcycle driver who was in an accident after fleeing from them has died.

Police Capt. Lisa Camacho says an officer stopped the motorcycle driver at Grand Boulevard and Harvey Avenue in south-central Oklahoma City about 9:45 p.m. Friday. When the officer began to approach the motorcycle, the driver took off.

Camacho says officers found the motorcycle at Grand and Santa Fe Avenue. The driver was taken to OU Medical Center, where he died.

He was identified as Lamont Elkins but authorities were still trying determine an age and address.

• A 55-year-old Texas man is dead following a two-vehicle collision in Choctaw County.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Randy Wayne Johns of Paris, Texas, was killed in Friday's night's crash. Troopers say he was pronounced dead at the scene due to multiple injuries.

The collision occurred at 11:05 p.m. on U.S. Highway 70, about 3.5 miles east of Hugo. Troopers say the victim's vehicle was westbound when it veered left of center and then swerved to the right to avoid a collision with an oncoming eastbound vehicle.

But the patrol says the two vehicles collided head-on. The victim was pinned in the wreckage for about one hour.

• A 26-year-old motorcyclist has died after an accident on State Highway 1 in Pontotoc County.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Danny Collins of Ada died in the crash about one mile south of Latta that happened about 1 p.m. Friday.

Troopers say Collins was exceeding the speed limit when his motorcycle ran off the road for an unknown reason and went into a slide. Collins was ejected.

He was taken by helicopter to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where troopers say he died at 4:22 p.m. Friday.

• Randy Wayne Johns, 55, of Paris, Texas died while driving west on U.S. 70, east of Hugo, when his vehicle crossed the center line and struck an eastbound vehicle about 11 p.m. Friday, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. Johns died at the scene. The driver of the other vehicle, Lauren Marie Larres, 18, of Elgin, and her passenger, Jordan James Denton, 18, of Ponca City, were flown to Texas hospitals in critical condition, the patrol said. Johns’ passenger, Christopher Lynn Haley, 30, of Arthur City, Texas, was flown to a Texas hospital with multiple injuries, the patrol said. All were wearing seat belts, troopers said.

•Cynthia D. Hancock, 54, Stilwell, was driving west on State Highway 51, four miles east of Stilwell in Adair County, when she lost control of her carand struck a tree just before noon Saturday, the patrol said.

Authorities say three people were killed when their car went out of control and struck a tree in northeast Norman.

The names of those killed early Sunday were not immediately released, pending notification of family members. Norman police said two people in the car were pronounced dead at the scene and a third died at Norman Regional Hospital.