A mother, father and their three children are dead after a crash that shut down Interstate 65 in Northwest Indiana this morning.
The dead were identified as Brian W. Workman, 33, Joanna L. Workman, 31, Ashley Workman, 13, Tyler Workman, 8, and Ryan Workman, 1. All were from Hobart, Ind.
The crash involved three semis and a pick-up truck on southbound I-65 at U.S. 231 at about 4 a.m., Indiana State Police told the Chicago Breaking News Center.
Police say slowed traffic at the Crown Point exit after a separate accident was the probable cause.
Forest E. Stover was driving a semi with double-box trailers. As he came over a hill, he could not stop in time for the slowed traffic and his semi hit a stopped Dodge pick-up truck carrying the family. The pick-up was crushed when it slammed into a flat-bed semi stopped on the roadway ahead of it, police said.
The pick-up burst into flames on impact and the fire spread to Stover's semi, police said.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office prounounced the five Hobarts inside the pick-up dead at the scene. The driver of the semi escaped unharmed.
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Autopsies are scheduled for later this afternoon, Chief Deputy Lake County, Ind., Coroner Jeff Wells said.
As of 9 a.m. all traffic remained shut down on southbound I-65.
