Wrecks kill 3 drivers on state roads

Two Arkansans and a North Carolinian died on Arkansas roads this week.

About 6:40 a.m. Monday, Jennifer Smith, 36, of Yellville was traveling east on Marion County Road 8060 when she lost control of a 1998 Jeep at a curve, causing the vehicle to overturn, according to a preliminary report released Friday.

Smith died in the single-vehicle crash, and travel conditions at the time were described as clear and dry.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Mountain View resident Beverly Chapman, 70, was driving east on Arkansas 66 in a Toyota Highlander when the vehicle crossed the highway's centerline, according to a preliminary crash report. The SUV then hit a Toyota Avalon in the westbound lane, according to the report.

[FATAL WRECKS: Complete coverage of deadly crashes in Arkansas]

The Avalon's driver, 57-year-old Kathryn Marvin Mayhue of Fayetteville, was killed. A passenger in the car, 55-year-old Bonita Reese of O'Brien, Ore., was injured, according to the report.

Chapman and two passengers in the Highlander -- Lawrence Chapman, 72, and William Chapman, 47, both from Mountain View -- were also reported as hurt.

Both lanes of the highway in Stone County where the wreck took place were closed for about 45 minutes Wednesday night, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Conditions were said to be clear and dry at the time.

About 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Randall Lee Howe, 65, was riding a 2004 Harley-Davidson north on Arkansas 23 in Madison County when he overcorrected on a left turn north of Huntsville and went off the right side of the road.

Howe, who was from Charlotte, N.C., was taken directly to a funeral home.

Conditions at the time of the crash were reportedly clear and dry.

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Metro on 09/23/2017

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