Stoddard County man, Arkansas woman killed in Poplar Bluff automobile accident

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Dexter, Mo., man and an Arkansas woman were killed in a wreck shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday that shut down a stretch of U.S. 60 to westbound traffic for much of the morning.

Jack W. Vaughn, 41, was reportedly westbound in a 1999 Dodge on U.S. 60 about two miles east of Poplar Bluff when an eastbound vehicle driven by 53-year-old Carol A. Cook of Evening Shade, Ark., crossed the median and struck Vaughn's vehicle. Vaughn, in turn, struck a 1998 Peterbilt tractor-trailer, also westbound, driven by Johnny L. Counts, 57, of Winona, Mo. Counts sustained minor injuries in the wreck.

Both Vaughn and Cook were pronounced dead at the scene by Butler County assistant coroner Joe Chapman. Their deaths mark the 72nd and 73rd fatalities of the year in the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop E region.