A 16-year-old girl from Tecumseh has died as the result of a two-vehicle collision, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The crash happened at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday on Highway 5, 10 miles northwest of Gainesville in Ozark County, reported Cpl. D.J. Johnson with Troop G of the patrol, Willow Springs.
The patrol no longer releases names in its public crash reports because of concerns the information will be used for scams, and prior to that did not release the names of victims younger than 18 due to state laws protecting the privacy of minors.
The Ozark County Times is reporting the victim's name as Andrea Winrod, and Wednesday morning the Gainesville High School posted on the district's Facebook page that one of its students died in a car accident Tuesday and offered support to students with additional access to counselors.
A post on its page in March included Winrod in a photo of basketball players who were named to the All-Conference Team.
The patrol reported a 16-year-old girl was driving a westbound 2010 Pontiac that failed to stop at a stop sign and traveled into the path of a southbound 2014 Ford F150 driven by a 44-year-old man from Gainesville.
Both of the vehicles then ran off the southwest side of the intersection, according to Johnson’s report. The girl was pronounced dead at 8:30 p.m. at the scene by Ozark County Coroner Gene Britt.
Both drivers were wearing seat belts and the driver of the Ford was taken by private vehicle to an unnamed hospital for treatment of minor injuries, the report shows.
Johnson was assisted at the scene by Tpr. C.A. Edens and Cpl. S.J. Crewse. The death is the 24th traffic fatality for the nine-county Troop G area in 2024 compared to 34 at this time last year.
