DEARBORN COUNTY — An Ohio woman is facing multiple felony charges following an investigation into a deadly two-vehicle crash on U.S. 52 that claimed the lives of two passengers and severely injured another earlier this summer.
The charges stem from an investigation conducted by the Indiana State Police Versailles Post into the early morning crash on June 14. According to authorities, 23-year-old Kelis Manuel of Fairfield, Ohio, was driving a passenger vehicle that collided head-on with a semi-truck.
Investigators reported that Manuel’s vehicle was being driven erratically prior to the collision, with witnesses describing the car swerving across the roadway and traveling on the wrong side of the road.
The impact killed two passengers in Manuel’s vehicle—identified as her sister and a friend. A third passenger sustained serious bodily injuries in the crash.
Toxicology results revealed that Manuel had a blood-alcohol concentration of .253—more than three times Indiana’s legal limit of .08—as well as a positive test for THC.
State police have filed a series of severe felony and misdemeanor charges against Manuel in connection with the incident:
- Operating a Vehicle Causing Death with an ACE of .08 or Greater (Felony)
- Two counts of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death (Felony)
- Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury (Felony)
- Multiple misdemeanor OWI-related offenses
