Woman killed in traffic accident in Jasper County

A New Jersey woman was killed and three other people were injured in a four-vehicle accident at 1:25 p.m. Monday on Highway 171, three miles north of Carl Junction in Jasper County, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Margaret M. McCurnin, 76, of Bayonne, N.J., was flown by medical helicopter to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, where she was pronounced dead at 2:17 p.m. Monday, the state patrol said.

Taken to the same hospital with minor injuries were the driver of the vehicle in which McCurnin was a passenger, Deanna J. Higgins, 69, of Pittsburg, Kan., and two other passengers in her car, Michael P. Higgins, 69, of Pittsburg, and Catherine R. Hackler, 78, of Bayonne, the patrol said.

The southbound Higgins vehicle was struck from behind by a southbound car driven by Shane C. McGinnis, 23, of Joplin, as the Higgins vehicle slowed. The impact pushed the Higgins vehicle into the northbound lanes, where it was struck by truck rig driven by Dennis J. Lee, 53, of Joplin, and a car driven by Pamela J. Knopp, 43, of Fort Scott, Kan., before running off the road and overturning, the patrol said.

n Three Neosho residents were injured in a two-vehicle accident at 1:35 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. Highway 60 at Cemetery Road in Neosho, the state patrol said.

Both drivers, Martin Ochoa, 61, and Jacob M. Harper, 28, and a passenger in Ochoa’s pickup truck, Eunice K. Ochoa, 57, were taken to Freeman Neosho Hospital, the patrol said.

The Ochoas were eastbound when Harper’s car pulled out in front of them from Cemetery Road, the patrol said.

n Three teenagers suffered serious injuries in a single-vehicle accident at 7 p.m. Monday on Reinmiller Road, four miles south of Joplin, the state patrol said.

The driver, Braydee R. Sloan, 18, of Neosho, and passengers Brian L. Hiatt, 16, and Kelsey E. Altman, 17, both of Joplin, were taken to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, the patrol said.

The southbound vehicle ran off the road, struck a tree and overturned, the patrol said.