MADISON COUNTY, Ill. — Two St. Louis women were killed in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 55 in Madison County, Illinois, early Saturday morning.
According to a crash report from the Illinois State Police, 30-year-old Juandria Pickett and her passenger 32-year-old Tiyana McCoy were killed in a crash at around 4 a.m. Saturday.
The report said Pickett and McCoy were in Pickett's Toyota Camry going south in the northbound lanes of I-55 near Livingston, Illinois. Near mile marker 37. they crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer.
Pickett and McCoy were declared dead at the scene of the crash. The driver of the tractor-trailer was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
The highway was closed for about six hours for an investigation.
The crash report said investigators do not know why the women were driving the wrong way on I-55. The crash remains under investigation.
This was the second wrong-way crash to happen in the 5 On Your Side viewing area Saturday. Two people were killed in a three-car wrong-way crash a little after 1 a.m. Saturday on I-70 in St. Louis County.
The wrong-way driver was driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-70 west of St. Charles Rock Road, when another driver in a 2010 Chevrolet Silverado driving eastbound in the eastbound lanes encountered the wrong-way driver and was unable to avoid her vehicle, resulting in a head-on collision, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report.
I-70 eastbound west of St. Charles Rock Road was closed for over four hours while first responders cleared the scene. MoDOT also closed the I-270 southbound exit to I-70 eastbound for several hours.
The Highway Patrol has not released the circumstances surrounding the crash.
