I-55 CRASH KILLS WOMAN, MAN KILLED IN JACKSON CRASH

A West Memphis, Ark., woman and a Cape Girardeau man, both 19, were killed in separate traffic accidents Friday afternoon.

Killed were Arnetra Marie King in an accident on Interstate 55 in Cape Girardeau and Eric Knight of 1917 Longview in Cape Girardeau in an accident that occurred at Jackson.

The first accident -- the third fatality in Cape Girardeau this year and the second within a week -- occurred about 3:30 p.m. on northbound I-55, about a half-mile south of Bloomfield Road, Cape Girardeau police said.

King was one of six occupants of a van that went partially off the median side of the roadway and then ended up sliding back across the two northbound lanes, landing sideways off the east side of the highway. "It ended up in a drainage ditch on its side," said patrolman J.R. Davis of the police department's traffic division.

All six of the occupants were from West Memphis. Four of the six were ejected, including Arnetra Marie King and the driver, Chauncey King, 17.

Arnetra Marie King was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:22 p.m. by Cape County Coroner John Carpenter. He said King died of massive head injuries.

Chauncey King was transported by air ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center, where he was reported in critical condition in the intensive care unit Friday night.

Passenger Sonja Christian, 19, was listed in stable condition in the hospital's intensive care unit. Three other passengers -- Renico Terrell, 17, Michelle Christian, 21, and Deddrick Robinson, 16, -- were treated and released at St. Francis Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Carpenter said the van's occupants were part of a group called the Show Stoppers, which was traveling to St. Louis to perform. Davis said the six were part of a group of 32 who were traveling in several vans.

The accident briefly forced the closing of both northbound lanes of I-55, and traffic was restricted to one lane for some time. "We went through rush hour, so we had a lot of traffic backing up there," said Davis.

The Jackson fatality -- the first in that city this year -- occurred around 4:30 p.m. on Bainbridge Road east of Donna Drive.

Jackson police said Eric Knight was killed when the eastbound motorcycle he was riding collided nearly head-on with a westbound pickup truck driven by Mark Elfrink of Jackson.

Knight was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. at St. Francis. Elfrink suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released at St. Francis.