The El Paso County Coroner's Office has put names to two people who died when a Toyota sedan crossed into oncoming traffic on Marksheffel Road on August 31. Francine Shumake, 53, who was driving, and her passenger Brenda Baker, 61, were killed at the scene of the collision, which occurred south of East Gate Street.
The collision happened at roughly 1:36 p.m. and involved two sedans. Preliminary findings from Colorado Springs police indicate the southbound Toyota failed to hold a curve in the road and drifted across the centerline into the path of a northbound Chevrolet sedan. Both occupants of the Chevrolet were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
The deaths of Shumake and Baker count as the 42nd and 43rd traffic fatalities recorded in Colorado Springs so far this year, a figure that already exceeds the comparable point in the prior year by at least four. The Marksheffel collision was not an isolated event in a period of deadly local roads. A motorcyclist also died following a single-vehicle crash on westbound Highway 24 near mile marker 295, south of Cascade, on September 7. The 34-year-old rider drifted off the right side of the roadway, struck the mountain face, and was thrown from the motorcycle; he was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
A third Highway 24 fatality followed on the night of September 10, when a 23-year-old Colorado Springs man was killed in a crash near the intersection of Highway 24 and Newt Drive, just west of Marsheffel Road, after troopers were called out shortly after 7:15 p.m. State Patrol investigators determined that an eastbound Acura RDX attempted a left turn onto Newt Drive in the path of a westbound Nissan Rogue, and the front left side of the Nissan absorbed the impact. The Acura's driver, a 38-year-old Peyton woman, was taken to the hospital; the Nissan's driver was pronounced dead at the scene, while a 23-year-old female passenger from Colorado Springs was transported with no injuries reported.
The Colorado Springs Police Department's Major Crash Team is still working the Marksheffel Road case, and anyone with relevant information is asked to call CSPD at 719-444-7000. The investigation remains open.
The coroner's release of full autopsy findings in the Marksheffel case, and any determination of cause in the two Highway 24 fatalities, are expected to follow as those inquiries move forward.