A 23-year-old Fairfield, Ohio, woman has been charged in connection with a head-on crash on U.S. 52 near West Harrison, Indiana, that killed her younger sister and another young woman, and left a third passenger with two broken femurs. Kelis Manuel faces multiple counts tied to the June 14 wreck, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and operating while intoxicated endangerment.
According to Eagle Country 99.3, the charges stemmed from a crash on Harrison Brookville Road, also known as U.S. 52, and include two counts of operating a vehicle causing death with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .08 grams of alcohol, two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle while intoxicated resulting in serious bodily injury, and operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance. The charges were filed in Dearborn County, Indiana. Killed in the crash were Kimora Manuel, 21, Kelis Manuel’s sister, and Le’Marea Holmes, 22.
Indiana State Police investigated the crash, which occurred on U.S. Route 52 near the intersection with State Road 46 at around 3 a.m., according to WLWT. Police said a driver in a 2020 Honda Civic was in the process of illegally passing another vehicle in a no-passing zone while traveling westbound when the vehicle collided head-on with a 2021 Volvo semi-truck pulling a box trailer in the opposite direction. Kimora Manuel and Le’Marea Holmes, both of Cincinnati, died in the crash; the station reported that alcohol is believed to be a factor, pending final toxicology confirmation.
Witness Accounts Describe Erratic Driving Before the Crash
Court documents cited by Eagle Country describe a chain of warning signs in the minutes before the collision. A witness told investigators they saw a woman wearing pink seated in the Civic’s driver’s seat and believed, per court documents, that she was intoxicated. The same witness said they observed the Civic stop completely in the middle of the roadway at U.S. 52 and Stout Road, and that they tried to get the car’s occupants to pull into a nearby parking lot…