FRANKLIN COUNTY —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 and caught fire.
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.
Three of those killed were connected with Tulsa Public Schools, the school district confirmed Monday. Booker T. Washington High School student 14-year-old Donald “DJ” Laster, was one of the teens who died in the crash, along with former Carver Middle School coach and teacher Wayne Walls and Ja’mon Gilstrap, a member of Tulsa Public Schools' transportation team.
The crash closed a section of the highway for four hours, and Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Jodi Clary said authorities were still working at the crash site Monday evening. The cause of the crash remained under investigation. “Both cars burned up,” Clary said.