COUPLE DROWNS IN DITCH AFTER CAR FLIPS OVER

BELL CITY -- The bodies of a man and a woman were discovered by a fisherman three days after their car had run off the road and flipped upside down in several feet of water, reported the state Highway Patrol.

The bodies of Donald J. McWhirter, of Sikeston, and Sarah Franklin, of Oran, were found in a drainage ditch about seven miles southeast of Bell City on Monday, said Sgt. Dale Moreland.

The 1977 Lincoln, driven by McWhirter, had gone off the side of County Road 518 about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Moreland said. The car had run off the right side of the road just before a bridge, striking a support pole, which collapsed the car's roof, he said. The car landed upside down in approximately 7 feet of water, he said.

The car wasn't noticed until Monday around 2 p.m. when a man fishing in the ditch noticed a tire peeking through the top of the water.

"Normally the water level is much lower, but rains had pushed it up," Moreland said.

It was estimated that the water level had fallen about a foot and a half since Saturday when the accident occurred, the trooper said.

Neither passenger was wearing a seat belt, he said, and no cause has been determined for the accident.