BETO JUNCTION, Kan. – A Texas woman was killed in a single car accident early Monday morning near Beto Junction on northbound Interstate 35. That accident was followed a few hours later by a semi-truck hitting a Kansas Department of Transportation warning vehicle about a mile away.
A report by the Kansas Highway Patrol said that Patricia M. Falconer, 52, of Canyon Lake, Texas, died in the accident that occurred around 5:30 a.m. Monday, July 15, 2019, about 2.5 miles from the I-35 and U.S. Highway 75 interchange, in Osage County, Kan., known locally as Beto Junction.
The report said Falconer was driving a 1999 Ford Explorer northbound on I-35 near mile marker 158, with a passenger, Jeffrey Tyler Cadman, 27, Canyon Lake, Texas. For an unknown reason, the vehicle left the roadway and entered the center grassy median. The vehicle turned back onto the roadway and crossed both lanes of northbound travel, entering the south ditch. The driver over-corrected and the Explorer rolled several times, coming to rest facing northwest on its wheels in the south ditch of the northbound lanes.
Cadman was listed as having suspected serious injuries and was transported to Overland Park Regional Hospital, Overland Park, Kan. Both Falconer and Cadman were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.
About two hours after the fatality accident, at 7:55 a.m., a Kansas Department of Transportation vehicle was involved in a collision with a semi-truck in the vicinity of the earlier crash. A KHP report on that accident said the KDOT truck with a sign board trailer was legally parked on I-35 in the northbound lane about 1.5 miles east of the I-35 and U.S.75 interchange, when a northbound 2019 International truck, driven by Morris J. Guesby, 55, Lawrence, Kan., struck the stopped KDOT truck, a 2009 Sterling.
The driver of the KDOT truck, Christopher A. Staley, 48, Williamsburg, Kan., was transported to Coffey County Hospital, Burlington, Kan., with suspected minor injuries. Guesby was reported as possibly injured and complained of pain, but he was not transported to a hospital. Both drivers were wearing proper safety restraints at the time of the accident.
