Northwestern Indiana police investigate crash that killed 3

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — Police in northwestern Indiana were investigating a Christmas Eve vehicle crash that left three people dead.

Lake County Sheriff’s police were called Thursday around 8:30 a.m. to a crash south of Crown Point and found two elderly people who had suffered blunt force trauma injuries, according to The (Northwest Indiana) Times.

The coroner’s office said 80-year-old Johnnie Johnson and 76-year-old Renata Johnson, both of Lowell, were pronounced dead later that morning. Their cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma. They were found in a tan Chevy Impala.

Police also found a third person, 34-year-old Ashlie Patz of Hebron, unresponsive in a silver Chevy Trailblazer SUV. She was pronounced dead at a hospital of blunt force trauma.

All three deaths were ruled accidental, according to the coroner’s office.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Department said investigators found the Trailblazer was headed southbound when it crossed the center line and struck the Impala, which was headed north.

Authorities have not released further details.