The victim of Saturday morning’s single-vehicle accident near the Daviess-Henderson county line has been identified as a 34-year-old Owensboro woman.
According to Daviess County Sheriff Brad Youngman, the victim was Ashley Stark, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident was reported at approximately 5 a.m. Saturday in the 10400 block of U.S. 60 West, where emergency crews found a vehicle approximately 30 feet off the roadway along with a broken utility pole nearby.
A preliminary investigation by the DCSO Accident Reconstruction Unit revealed that the vehicle was traveling westbound when it left the roadway for unknown reasons, struck the utility pole, and rolled before coming to rest in a field partially submerged in water.
Youngman said the investigation determined Stark left her home approximately an hour before the accident was reported, and the weather is not believed to have been a factor.
“Our accident reconstruction team was able to confirm her whereabouts prior to the discovery of the crash scene,” Youngman said. “Prior to that, we were uncertain how long prior to the discovery the crash had occurred, and that of course led us to wonder if the weather had played a prominent role. However, once the timeline was confirmed,d we were able to determine the weather was not a direct contributing factor.”
U.S. Highway 60 was closed in both directions while the Daviess County Fire Department, Stanley Fire Department, and Kenergy crews responded to the scene and replaced the utility pole. The road was expected to reopen by mid-morning.
