Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE - A 5-year-old Mentone girl was killed when she was ejected from a car she was riding in when it rolled into a cornfield along Ind. 25, east of CR 780W, near Mentone.
Valeria Ayala-Castro of West Main Street was pronounced dead at Kosciusko Community Hospital after the 1:30 p.m. accident Sunday. She was thrown several feet from where the vehicle was at rest after the accident.
Witnesses told police that the vehicle, driven by Juana Ayala, 31, of West Main Street, Mentone, dropped off the right side of the road and, when she attempted to bring the car back onto the roadway, Ayala apparently overcorrected. The vehicle then swerved back to the right, went into a ditch and became airborne before flipping several times. The car came to rest upside down in a cornfield.
Ayala and another passenger in the car, Alexandria Ayala-Castro, 9, of West Main Street, Mentone, were airlifted from the scene to Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne.
Ayala suffered bruises and complained of pain. She was treated at Parkview and later released.
Ayala-Castro suffered facial fractures and was in fair condition this morning at Parkview.
According to an Indiana State Police press release, Ayala and Alexandria Ayala-Castro were wearing seat belts. Valeria Ayala-Castro was not wearing a seat belt, police said.
Assisting at the scene were personnel from the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, Mentone Fire Department and Mentone and Multi-Township emergency medical services.
