FRANKLIN COUNTY, Kan. —Authorities investigating a deadly head-on crash that occurred just after 5:30p.m. Sunday in Franklin County have identified the victims.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 GMC Yukon driven by James D. Gilstrap, 33, Tulsa, Oklahoma, was southbound on U.S. 169 highway just northeast of Virginia Road.
The driver attempted to overtake a slower southbound vehicle and entered the northbound lanes to pass. The Yukon and a northbound 2016 Subaru Legacy driven by Alexander R. Ernst, 37, Ames, Iowa, collided head-on on the northbound shoulder.
Gilstrap and passengers in the Yukon including Wayne T. Walls, 41, Talala, Oklahoma, and two 14-year-old boys from Tulsa were pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported a 15-year-old boy from Talala, Oklahoma to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Ernst and passengers in the Subaru including John D. Elliott, 76; Madalyn N. Elliott, 33; Norleen L. Elliott, 69, all from Chesterfield, Missouri, were pronounced dead at the scene. All were properly restrained, according to the KHP.