Woman and her unborn child dead in Monroe County crash, sheriff says; 1 in custody
A 32-year-old woman and her unborn child are dead, and a man is in custody after a rollover crash in Whiteford Township, Michigan, on Saturday night.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the crash on northbound U.S. Highway 23 near Consear Road was reported around 10 p.m.
The woman, identified by officials as Kaitlyn A. Ellison, was driving a Ford Escape on the right lane of the highway when she was sideswiped by a 24-year-old man driving a Chrysler 300 in the left lane.
The sheriff's office says the collision caused the Ford to roll several times over an embankment before coming to a rest on its side. Ellison, from Petersburg, Michigan, was extricated by the Whiteford Township Fire Department and transported to a hospital, where she later died.
Ellison was seven months pregnant, according to the sheriff's office. Her unborn child also died after the crash.
Witnesses told sheriff's deputies that the man from Oregon, Ohio, was speeding past vehicles on the right shoulder of the highway before the crash. He eventually merged into the right lane and was trying to pass Ellison on her left when the Chrysler hit the Ford.
The impact moved the Chrysler into a nearby median. The sheriff's office says the man left the scene on foot. He was later located and arrested at a nearby gas station.
He's being held at Monroe County Jail pending felony charges.
Speed and alcohol are factors in the crash, according to the sheriff's office.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 734-240-7548, Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-773-2587 or leave an anonymous tip .
