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NTSB: Preliminary report finds auto transporter slammed into stopped traffic, leading to deadly I-65 wreck

Kirsten Fiscus
Montgomery Advertiser

The crash that killed 10 people — including nine children — on Interstate 65 near Greenville in June occurred when an auto transport truck slammed into vehicles that were stopped on the roadway after a series of minor crashes, according to the preliminary report published by the National Transportation Safety Board. 

The NTSB released the preliminary findings Tuesday. 

The wreck occurred about 2:30 p.m. on June 19, just south of Montgomery along Interstate 65 at mile marker 138.

Eight Alabama juveniles who were in a passenger van owned by the Tallapoosa Girls Ranch died in the wreck, along with a Tennessee man and his 9-month-old daughter who were traveling in an SUV.

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According to the preliminary report, a 2020 Volvo tractor-trailer pulling a 2020 Cottrell auto transporter was traveling north in the right lane of I-65 approaching the bridge over Pigeon Creek. 

Traffic, including the van that Candice Gulley was driving and the SUV that Cody Fox was in with his family, had slowed to a stop following a series of minor crashes. The NTSB reported that light rain was falling at the time of the crash and that a series of rain bands had come through the area during the day, which saw Tropical Storm Claudette making its way across Alabama. 

The transport truck struck a 2020 Ford Explorer, carrying the Fox family, and then veered to the left, striking a Ford F350 passenger van occupied by Gulley and eight children, including two of her own, two nephews and four girls from the Tallapoosa Girls Ranch. 

"After striking the van (and other queued vehicles), [the truck] struck the left bridge rail and continued into the median beyond the north end of the bridge, coming to rest with a portion of its trailer in the roadway," the report says. 

The Ford Explorer, after being hit by the transport truck, overturned and struck several other stopped cars. 

Coming upon the wreck, a 2005 Freightliner tractor-trailer veered left, struck and landed atop the left bridge rail, and struck the passenger van before stopping in the median, according to the report. 

A fire then broke out among the vehicles, including the van. 

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A total of 12 vehicles and 38 people were involved in the wreck, according to NTSB investigators. The driver of the transport truck was also injured in the crash. 

The NTSB is still collecting data on the crash sequence, fire, weather conditions and precipitation amounts at the time of the wreck. 

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is conducting a separate investigation into the wreck. It remained unclear Tuesday when that report might be finished and if it will be released publicly upon completion.

The victims of the wreck were:

  • Cody Fox, 29 of South Pittsburg, Tenn.
  • Ariana Fox, 9 months old, of South Pittsburg, Tenn.
  • Isabella Gulley, 16, of Camp Hill, Ala.
  • Ben Gulley, 3, of Camp Hill, Ala.
  • Josiah Dunnavant, 12, of Theodore, Ala.
  • Nicholas Dunnavant, 8, of Theodore, Ala.
  • Tia, 14, who was living at the Tallapooosa County Girls Ranch
  • Haley Logan, 15, of Tuscaloosa, who was living at the Girls Ranch
  • Makenzie Burdette, 16, of Shelby County, who was living at the Girls Ranch
  • Dana Norman, 17, of Madison County, who was living at the Girls Ranch

Read the preliminary report here:

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 334-318-1798 or KFiscus@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KDFiscus