A Versailles woman died Saturday and seven others were injured in a four-vehicle accident in Morgan County.
The Missouri Highway Patrol reports Carissa D. Ryden, 31, died when she was ejected into the roadway from the car she was riding in, and was then hit by another vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck, which occurred at 10 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 50 at Potters Ford Road.
She was a front-seat passenger in a car driven westbound by Jeffrey D. Ryden, 38, of Versailles, when it crossed the center line of the roadway and collided head-on with an eastbound Peterbilt truck driven by Mark A. Schmakel, 47, of Waconia, Minn.
The truck then ran off the road and came to rest in some trees. Schmakel received serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia.
After hitting the truck, the Ryden vehicle spun in the roadway and was hit by an eastbound car driven by Devin A. Heier, 24, of Jefferson City. That collision caused a rear-seat passenger in the Ryden car to be ejected.
A fourth vehicle, driven westbound by 44-year-old Angela S. Harvey of California, Missouri, then attempted to avoid the wreck but struck the ejected rear-seat passenger, who had come to rest on the north side of the roadway. Izzabella Ryden, 7, sustained serious injuries and was transported by Staff for Life helicopter to University Hospital in Columbia.
Jeffrey Ryden and two other passengers in his car - Alex D. Ryden, 5, and Austin C. Ryden, 3 - all received minor injuries. Heier sustained minor injuries and a 25-year-old passenger in his car, Ankeeta K. Heier of Jefferson City, suffered moderate injuries. All five were taken by ambulance to University Hospital.
The patrol indicated that all but the two ejected passengers were using their seat belts or safety devices.
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