CLEVELAND — Four people are dead, including two victims from Northeast Ohio, and another is seriously injured after two cars collided on I-71 in Morrow County near Mansfield early Sunday morning, the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed.
Troopers say the fatal crash happened near milepost 152 in Franklin Township at approximately 2:38 a.m.
Canton resident Larry A. Dotson, 32, was driving a 2020 Hyundai Tuscon northbound in the wrong direction on I-71 and collided head-on with a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the southbound lane, the OSHP said. The cars, which were both carrying passengers, overturned and caught fire on impact.
Troopers say the Jeep Grand Cherokee, driven by 26-year-old Columbus resident Salvador Alfaro Castaneda, had two passengers. 31-year-old Cristal Galloso Olvera and 50-year-old Ivonne Olvera, both of Columbus, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Dotson and his passenger, Marlee S. Middleton, 32 of Massillon, were also pronounced dead at the scene.
Castaneda was hospitalized in Mansfield with "serious injuries," troopers said.
The OSHP said Dotson and Middleton were not wearing seatbelts when the crash happened. Castaneda was wearing his seatbelt; the OSHP does not know whether his passengers were wearing theirs.
"It is unknown if drugs and alcohol were factors in this crash," the OSHP said in a media release.
Troopers from the OSHP's Mount Gilead post are continuing to investigate the crash.