A multiple vehicle motor vehicle accident Thursday about 11:15 AM has claimed the lives of a daughter and her father, of Cusseta. 16-year-old Abbey Darnell and her father, 49-year-old David Darnell died instantly when the vehicle they were in was struck from behind on I-85 near the 63 mile marker in the southbound lane. Lee County Chief Deputy Coroner Gene Manning pronounced both victims dead at the scene. They died from multiple blunt force impact injuries. It appears that the father, had pulled off the side of the interstate to check on his daughters vehicle which had been stranded earlier from a flat tire. A Chevrolet pickup traveling south on the interstate struck the victims’ vehicle from behind and knocked it into the stranded vehicle. The driver of the truck was transported by ambulance to Piedmont Midtown Medical Center in Columbus for treatment of his injuries. His condition is unknown currently. Both victim’s bodies have been sent to the medical examiner’s office of the Alabama Dept. of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery for a postmortem examination. The accident remains under investigation by the Opelika Police Department and the Lee County Coroner’s Office.
-Bill Harris, Lee County Coroner