A rural Dix woman was killed in a late Friday night head-on crash between two side-by-sides that sent three others to St. Louis hospitals for treatment.
Jefferson County Coroner Roger Hayse has identified the victim as 53-year-old Laura ‘Christi’ Burns. She was pronounced dead on the scene from injuries sustained when being thrown from one of the side-by-sides that she was a passenger.
The crash occurred on Rockcrusher Road which runs alongside I-57 southwest of Dix.
Hayse says the drivers of both side-by-sides were trapped in the vehicles and had to be extricated by Jefferson Fire. Both were airlifted from the scene by Air Evac to St. Louis Hospitals for treatment of injuries.
A family member says Burns’ husband was a passenger on the second vehicle. He was able to get out of the side-by-side on his own and was taken to SSM Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon. Due to fog setting in, he was later transferred by ground ambulance to St. Louis for treatment.
The names of the others involved in the crash have not yet been released as the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department awaits a report from a State Police accident reconstructionist to complete the report.
Initial information given by those involved indicates the two side-by-sides were riding together when one pulled ahead of the other. It later turned around to reunite with the other unit when the head-on crash occurred. They reported dust blown up from the roadway blocked the view.
Hayse says the initial call apparently came from one of the occupant’s cell phones that called 911 on its own. All the communications officer could hear was a woman screaming. Emergency help responded to the scene after the phone was ‘pinged’ to determine its location.
The crash was first reported at 11:45 Friday night.
A family member has corrected that Burns’ husband was a passenger and not the driver of the second side-by-side involved in the crash that was part of the initial story. This story also corrects the victim’s age.
