MACON COUNTY, Mo. — UPDATE: The Missouri State Highway Patrol identifies the victim of Thursday afternoon’s crash outside Macon as Mary Kliethermes, 71, of Independence, Missouri.
ORIGINAL STORY: A woman was killed Thursday afternoon when she rear-ended a tractor-trailer that was stopped on a busy northeast Missouri highway.
The deadly wreck happened shortly after noon in the eastbound lanes of Highway 36, three-and-a-half miles east of Macon.
The driver of the big rig, a man from El Paso, Texas, told KTVO that he was having mechanical problems and was trying to get the tractor-trailer moved off the highway.
He said he had been stopped in the passing lane for approximately 10 seconds when an SUV slammed into the back of his trailer.
The woman driving that vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.
State troopers working the crash told KTVO the woman’s driver license indicated she was from Independence, Missouri, but they still had to confirm that. Her name is not being released until her family is notified.
The two men in the semi were not hurt.
The crash closed both eastbound lanes of Highway 36, but eastbound traffic was allowed to pass on the shoulder.
This story will be updated with names as soon as the Missouri State Highway Patrol releases them.