Girl dies when car lands in Van Wert County ditch

8/16/2005

WREN, Ohio A 17-year-old girl was killed Sunday when her car went off State Rt. 81 and landed upside down in a water-filled ditch in Van Wert County, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Elizabeth C. Lawrence of Rockford, Ohio, was pronounced dead at the scene by Dr. Jeffrey Easley, Van Wert County coroner. An autopsy has been ordered.

Ms. Lawrence was eastbound on Route 81, west of Harrison Willshire Road, about 1:30 a.m. yesterday when her vehicle went off the right side of the road, then briefly returned to the highway, troopers at the patrol s Van Wert post said.

Ms. Lawrence apparently overcorrected, then went off the right side of the road again and flipped over a guardrail. Her vehicle came to rest in the ditch, troopers said.