NEWS RELEASE



For further information please contact: Capt. Christian T. Ricks

(573) 526-6115

Q12057

December 27, 2005

EMPHASIS: Five Fatalities Reported During Christmas Holiday



The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports five people died during the Christmas holiday counting period--from 6 p.m., Friday, December 23, 2005 to 11:59 p.m., Monday, December 26, 2005. During this year’s 78-hour counting period, the Patrol investigated 241 traffic crashes, which included 105 injuries and all five fatalities. Troopers arrested 83 people for driving while intoxicated. During last year’s 54-hour counting period, troopers investigated 137 traffic crashes, including 82 injuries. In 2004, 32 people were arrested for driving while intoxicated. There were eight fatalities during the 2004 Christmas holiday counting period.



Four of the five fatalities occurred in the Troop C, St. Louis area; one fatality occurred in the Troop D, Springfield area.



No fatalities occurred in the counting period on Friday, December 23, 2005.



Two people died in traffic crashes on December 24, 2005. Kyle D. Dothage, 25, of Hermann, MO, died when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving on a curve. The vehicle slid off the south edge of the roadway, overturned down a bluff, and came to rest on its passenger side submerged in a creek. The crash occurred in Warren County on Missouri Highway 94 at Massas Creek. Dothage was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Dr. M. Largaeseade pronounced Dothage dead at a Hermann area hospital.



Lisa A. Lynch Fairchild, 45, of Walnut Shade, MO, died when the vehicle she was driving ran off the right side of the roadway, struck an embankment and stop sign, and overturned several times. Lynch Fairchild was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. The crash occurred in Dallas County on U.S. Highway 63 south of Louisburg, MO. A passenger in the vehicle sustained moderate injuries. The passenger was wearing a seat belt. Dallas County Coroner Brett Viets pronounced Lynch Fairchild dead at the scene.



Two people died in traffic crashes on December 25, 2005. Robert Nash, 18, of Potosi, MO, and David J. Akers, 20, also of Potosi, MO, died when the vehicle Nash was driving crossed the center line and struck the vehicle Akers was driving head on. The crash occurred in Washington County on Highway 185 just north of Strange Road. A passenger in Nash’s vehicle sustained moderate injuries; a passenger in Akers’ vehicle sustained serious injuries. None of the four people involved in this traffic crash wore a seat belt. Washington County Coroner Bryan DeClue pronounced both fatalities at the scene of the crash.



Joyce M. Currie, 51, of Winfield, MO, died when an oncoming vehicle crossed the center line and struck the vehicle Currie was driving head on. The crash occurred in Lincoln County in Highway 47 just west of Route EE. Dr. T. McCullough pronounced Currie dead at Lincoln County Hospital. The driver of the vehicle that struck Currie’s vehicle sustained serious injuries in the crash. Both drivers were wearing a seat belt.