A father and son from Valley Falls died in a three-vehicle accident north of Oskaloosa on Tuesday afternoon.
Darrell Sutton, 31, and his 2-year-old son, Darrell Sutton Jr., died in the accident, which occurred about 1 p.m. Tuesday about 4 miles north of Oskaloosa on U.S. Highway 59.
Sutton's wife, Patricia, 26, and his daughter, Ashley, 3, were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Topeka.
They were admitted, but a hospital spokeswoman on Tuesday night said she could not release their conditions.
The Kansas Highway Patrol said the Sutton family was in a 1966 Ford pickup, which was stopped when it was struck by a 1998 Kenworth tractor-trailer.
The pickup was pushed into a third vehicle, a 1994 Dodge being driven by Joanie Abel, 37, Winchester. She was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where she was listed in good condition on Tuesday night.
A passenger in her car, Joel Abel, 14 months, was treated at LMH and released.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Mark Shirley, 38, St. Joseph, Mo., was not injured, a KHP dispatcher said.
The dispatcher could provide no additional details of how the accident occurred.
U.S. 59 remained closed at the location throughout the day and night Tuesday. Authorities were using an accident reconstruction team to determine how it happened, a Franklin County Sheriff's dispatcher said.
Traffic was being detoured around the location, the dispatcher said.
The highway was expected to be open early this morning.
All drivers and passengers in the accident were wearing seat belts, the KHP dispatcher said.
The accident was the second multi-fatality wreck in the area in three days.
Three men died on Sunday when the pickup truck they were riding in overturned in North Lawrence.
-- Michael Dekker's phone message number is 832-7187. His e-mail address is mdekker@ljworld.com.
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