Two die in overnight crashes on Minnesota roads

Two people died in separate crashes on Minnesota roads overnight Friday.

About 11 p.m., 31-year-old George Menchaca of Kerkhoven, Minn., died when his car, headed west on Hwy. 12 in Swift County, crossed the highway and went off the road into the ditch on the other side. It rolled several times before coming to rest, according to the State Patrol.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday, an SUV and a sedan traveling in opposite directions collided on Hwy. 169 in Faribault County.

The driver of the SUV, 76-year-old Harold Elvin Renkley of Blue Earth, Minn., was killed.

The driver of the sedan, 20-year-old Jeffrey Gordon Gunzenhauser of Winnebago, Minn., was taken to HCMC in Minneapolis with critical injuries.

A passenger in the SUV, Stanley Roy Oppedal, 84, of Ames, Iowa, suffered noncritical injuries and was taken to Mayo Clinic Hospital.

No alcohol was involved in either incident, the State Patrol said.

Shortly before 2 p.m., a Saturn Ion heading east on Hwy. 8 crossed into westbound traffic and struck a Ford F150 pickup, the patrol said. The Saturn returned to the eastbound lane, but then it jerked back into the westbound lane and struck a dump truck head-on just west of Lincoln Road.

The driver of the Saturn, Heather Lee Williamson, 20, of Centuria, Wis., and her passenger, Austin Tyler Eckard, 25, of North Branch, Minn., were killed.

The driver of the dump truck, Christopher Brian Engel, 42, of St. Paul, was not injured. Daniel Lee Wiemann, 53, of Centuria, Wis., the driver of the pickup, was also unharmed, along with passenger Joleen Rae Wiemann, 58.

The crash remains under investigation.