A Chesterton woman died Sunday of injuries sustained in a two vehicle accident on I-69, Anderson Police said.

Leigh Ann Gray, 24, was pronounced dead in hospital after being extricated unconscious and unresponsive from her 2006 Saturn, Det. Joel Sandefur of the APD told the Chesterton Tribune today.

At approximately 1:15 p.m. Gray was northbound in the left lane of I-69, north of Exit 26, when for an unknown reason she crossed the grassy median and struck a southbound 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Sammy A. Tilley, 24, of Gaston, Sandefur said.

Tilley sustained superficial injuries and was treated and released after being transported to St. John’s Hospital in Anderson, but his passenger Jeremy Pulley, 26, of Yorktown, sustained a hip injury requiring surgery, Sandefur said.

The preliminary cause of Gray’s death was blunt force trauma, Sandefur said, but the results of an autopsy performed on Monday are pending.

At this point investigators are unable to say why Gray veered into the median but they plan to seek a search warrant to obtain the Saturn’s “little black box” in the hope of recovering pertinent information, Sandefur said.

Southbound I-69 was closed to traffic for two and half hours.

Posted 2/15/2006