Friday head-on collision results in two deaths

Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 16, 2003

MONTEREY, La. &045; Two area teenagers have died as a result of a two-vehicle, head-on collision on Louisiana 129 north of Monterey Friday evening.

Chloe Swingley Cross, 16, of 317 Butch Road in Monterey and Audrey Ferrin Beard, 17, of 201 Sunrise Road in Jonesville died from injuries they sustained in the 5:32 p.m. accident.

Cross was a passenger in a southbound 1990 Toyota driven by Beard when their vehicle collided with a northbound 2002 Dodge pickup driven by Darryl W. Simpson, 41, of Highway 129 in Monterey, according to Trooper First Class Justin Green of the Louisiana State Police.

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Green reported that both vehicles seemed to be across the center line when they struck each other.

Cross was pronounced dead at Natchez Community Hospital. Beard was transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center and then to University Medical Center in Jackson, where she died Saturday morning, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Simpson was also transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. None of the occupants in either vehicle was wearing a seatbelt, according to reports.

Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the accident, and test results are pending, according to Green’s report.