Missouri Highway Patrol investigates fatal crash

Authorities aren't releasing any more information about the circumstances leading up to a deadly crash Saturday night in Cape Girardeau County until a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation is complete.

The accident occurred on Route U, five miles west of Whitewater, following a pursuit by the Chaffee Police Department. Two people -- 19-year-old Garrett K. Williams of Allenville and 46-year-old Debra P. Johnson of Delta -- were pronounced dead at the scene by Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton. Daniel L. Moore, 20, and Betina M. Ott, 23, both of Chaffee, were taken to Saint Francis Medical Center with serious injuries.

Ott was later transported to a St. Louis hospital. Saint Francis declined to release information on the victims.

The accident occurred at about 11:40 p.m. Saturday.

Chaffee Police Chief Martin Keys said he wouldn't make any statements on the circumstances leading to the crash since the incident was under investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Dale Moreland of Troop E said the patrol's Major Crash Investigation Team is investigating the accident itself, not the circumstances leading to it.

Williams was driving the car when he lost control and the vehicle slid off the roadway and struck a tree, according to a preliminary highway patrol crash report. Williams' car was the only vehicle involved in the crash. The patrol report said Ott was the only person in the vehicle wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Clifton said autopsies will not be performed on Williams and Johnson, but toxicology studies are being performed on the two. Results from those studies could take three to four weeks. Clifton said he has requested reports on the incident from the Chaffee Police Department and from the highway patrol. Chaffee's report should be ready within the next few days, Clifton said, but the highway patrol investigation could take longer.

A call to Keys Monday afternoon asking when the Chaffee report would be ready was not returned.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182