A Dumas couple were killed in a three-vehicle accident on U.S. 65 south in Jefferson County Tuesday morning.
According to a preliminary report, Clarence Wells, 81, was northbound driving a 2015 Dodge Ram when the vehicle was hit head-on by a 1999 Peterbilt tractor-trailer that crossed the center line and into the northbound lanes.
Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley pronounced Wells dead at the scene at 11:25 a.m.
Wanda Wells, 79, also of Dumas who was a passenger in the vehicle was taken to Jefferson Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m.
The report said the accident occurred after a 2021 Toyota that was turning left onto the highway from Love’s Truck Stop entered the path of the tractor-trailer and was hit in the southbound lanes before the tractor-trailer veered left into the northbound lanes.
The accident was reported at 10:52 a.m. and the deaths bring to 452 the number of people killed on the state’s highways so far this year.
