FOUR PEOPLE ARE KILLED IN WRECK NEAR ADVANCE

ADVANCE -- Four members of a Dudley family were killed Tuesday in what police said is the worst automobile accident in Southeast Missouri this year.

The four were fatally injured when the vehicle they were in was struck head-on by a dump truck.

The Missouri Highway Patrol identified the victims as the driver of the vehicle, Joe Dodson, 27, of Dudley; his wife, Mary Dodson, 37; and her daughters, Julie Garrett, 10, and Tonya Garrett, 17, all passengers.

A spokesman for the patrol said the accident occurred at 9:55 a.m. along Highway 25, a half-mile north of Advance.

Dodson was traveling north when a dump truck driven by John Wright, 19, of Bell City, struck the Dodson vehicle head-on, the spokesman said. Dodson was driving a 1987 Chevrolet Blazer, the spokesman said.

Wright had been traveling south when he approached slow-moving traffic and was unable to stop, the patrol said. He veered into the northbound lane, where the dump truck struck and overturned onto the Dodson vehicle.

The spokesman said the accident brought the number of traffic fatalities so far this year in Southeast Missouri to 38. Last year at this time, the number of traffic fatalities was 39, he said.

The accident caused traffic to be blocked on the highway for more than two hours, the patrol said.