... after alcohol-related crash

Staff Reports

A Lafayette woman is dead, her husband is in critical condition and a Reynolds man is charged with drunken driving after a head-on crash on Indiana 43 south of Brookston on Saturday night.

Pamela Jo Howard, 46, died in the two-vehicle crash at 11 p.m. near White County Road 1150 South. Her husband, Leroy A. Howard, 34, suffered multiple fractures to the right side of his body and a head injury and was still in critical condition Monday night at St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

Dale A. Wiese, 48, the other driver, was released from the White County Jail after posting bond Sunday.

Trooper Jerry Holeman of the Indiana State Police said Leroy Howard was driving a 1996 Hyundai southbound he went left of center and struck Wiese's northbound 1998 Dodge truck.

Police still are investigating why Howard went left of center. Blood tests for alcohol and drugs were negative.

Not so for Wiese, who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he was treated for minor injuries at St. Elizabeth. Indiana State Police do not release blood-alcohol contents from fatal crashes, and court documents containing that information were not available late Monday.