By ERIC MEYER

Staff writer

A wreck Friday afternoon at US-56 and K-256 northwest of Marion left three dead and two injured — one of them seriously.

Wanda L. Richmond, 85, Marion, died when a westbound 2016 Ford Taurus in which she a passenger broadsided a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan that had pulled in front of the Taurus on US-56 from a stop sign on K256.

Richmond’s daughter-in-law, Ramona Richmond, 58, Salina, a passenger in the Taurus, was taken to St. Luke Hospital, Marion, by Marion ambulance. A helicopter later airlifted a patient from St. Luke to Wesley Medical Center, Wichita.

The Taurus’s driver — Wanda Richmond’s granddaughter, Rebecca R. Young, 36, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma — had minor injuries and was not taken to a hospital, according to Kansas Highway Patrol.

The Dodge’s driver, Charlotte S. Cole, 52, Moundridge, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her passenger, Jessica D. Schmidt, 19, Fruitland, Idaho, was taken by Hillsboro ambulance attendants accompanied by a Peabody technician to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. She later died from her injuries.

The impact drove both vehicles into a north ditch on US-56 and trapped at least two occupants in the wreckage.

Sheriff’s deputies, a Marion police officer, and a state trooper also worked the scene of the accident.

Marion and Hillsboro fire departments and rescue squads extricated the victims and remained at the scene until 4:15 p.m.