UNION COUNTY — A 16-year-old Fairbanks student is dead and officials are continuing to investigate after a one-vehicle crash Saturday night on U.S. Route 36 near Conner Road.
Blake Gorton, of Woodstock, died at the crash scene, troopers of the Marysville Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol report.
Gorton was driving a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado southwest on U.S. 36 around 10:58 p.m. when the vehicle crossed the center line and traveled off the left side of the road, according to preliminary reports.
The Silverado reportedly struck a guardrail end causing it to overturn as it continued down an embankment and became submerged in Treacle Creek.
Officials with the Union County Coroners Office are waiting for autopsy results to determine if Gorton died as a result of injuries from the crash or drowned as a result of being submerged in the creek, the Marysville Journal-Tribune reports
In addition to the Union County Coroner’s Office, the Union County Sheriff’s Office as well as Marysville Division of Fire and the Mechanicsburg Fire Department assisted the patrol at the scene.