3 Bowling Green students, 1 other killed in I-75 crash in northwest Ohio with wrong way driver

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Four people, including three Bowling Green State University students, were killed in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 75 in northwest Ohio Friday morning.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol said they were first alerted to a driver heading southbound in the northbound lanes in Wood County at 2:15 a.m. Two minutes later, while they were looking for the driver, troopers said 69-year-old Winifred Lein of Perrysburg collided with a car carrying five BGSU students in Middleton.

Lein, the driver of the other car carrying the students, as well as two students were killed. Lein’s Plymouth Breeze burst into flames after the crash, the patrol said.

Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said the crash occurred at a crest in the highway and he doubts the legal northbound driver had any warning.

Bowling Green State University said all five in the car are members of the Alpha Xi Delta Women’s Fraternity, and were heading to the airport in Detroit for spring break.

The school released the names of the students killed:
· Rebekah Blakkolb, 20, of Aurora, Ohio, a junior in the College of Education and Human Development
· Christina Goyett, 19, of Bay City, Mich., a sophomore in the College of Education and Human Development
· Sarah Hammond, 21, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, a junior in the College of Education and Human Development

The school said these are the students injured:
· Angelica Mormile, 19, of Garfield Heights, Ohio, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences
· Kayla Somoles, 19, of Parma, Ohio, a sophomore in the College of Education and Human Development

"We're shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news," said BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey. "Our hearts go out to the families, friends and sorority sisters of these young women."

The school is making grief counselors available to the sorority and the university community.

Troopers are still investigating why the driver was going the wrong way. Investigators said Lein, Goyett and Mormile were wearing their safety belts at the time of the crash. Blakkolb and Somoles were not wearing safety belts, and it is unknown if Hammond was wearing a safety belt at the time of the crash.

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