COLUMBIA, Mo. Two Auxvasse residents died in a six-vehicle crash Wednesday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has confirmed.
Cindy Spradlin, 63, and her passenger Vicky Moore, 60, were among the four who died in the pileup on Interstate 70 east of Columbia near State Road Z. Otto Kramer III - a 63-year-old from Pickerington, Ohio - and Jennifer L. Temple, 44 of Columbia, were the other two victims.
The victims' next of kin have been notified, the MSHP stated in a crash report.
The accident took place at about noon Wednesday, near mile marker 133 on westbound I-70.
Spradlin's 2003 Buick LeSabre and Temple's 2005 Ford Taurus were stopped in traffic.
"There was a car hauler at the St. Charles exit that caught fire," said Sgt. Scott White, MSHP Troop F spokesperson. "There was a chain of events there."
The vehicles were struck from behind by Kramer's 2019 Freightliner. The impact forced Spradlin's car into a stationary 2016 Freightliner driven by Leroy Cox, Jr., 68, of Mobile, Alabama. It also sent Temple's vehicle into a 2007 Freightliner driven by David Whitehead, 30, of South Haven, Mississippi. Whitehead's Freightliner then struck a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Edmond Squires, 42, of Hazelwood.
Moore and Temple were pronounced deceased at the scene by a Boone County medical examiner. Spradlin and Kramer were rushed by ambulance to University Hospital in Columbia. Kramer was pronounced deceased at 12:59 p.m. and Spradlin at 2:09 p.m.
All victims were wearing seat belts. The report listed no other injuries.
The investigation continues. The four deaths bring MSHP Troop F's traffic fatality total to five for November and 67 for all of 2018.