Crashes kill six since Friday

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It has been a deadly few days on Wyoming's highways.

From Friday to Monday, six people were killed in six separate crashes across the state, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

The patrol's Sgt. Stephen Townsend said Tuesday the fatal wrecks all took place on dry roads during favorable weather. The number of fatalities was unusually high, but not unprecedented, he said.

"There's no rhyme or reason as to why," he said. "Sometimes things are quiet, and sometimes they happen in this frequency."

Here's list of those killed and how they died, according to the patrol:

* Kenneth Estilette, 59, of New Iveria, La., was killed at 9 p.m. Saturday when the 1994 Harley-Davidson motorcycle he was riding on U.S. Highway 85 about 38 miles north of Cheyenne crashed head-on into a 1995 Lincoln four-door driven by Charles Coleman, 74, of Hawk Springs.

The crash occurred when Estilette tried to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone. He was not wearing a helmet and died at the scene. Coleman was taken to United Medical Center in Cheyenne.

* Gabriel Springsteen, 26, of Laramie was driving his 2000 Audi A6 north on Wyoming Highway 77 at 5:39 p.m. Friday 40 miles north of Medicine Bow at an estimated 112 mph when he lost control and the car rolled several times. He was wearing a seat belt but died at the scene.

* Larry Moore, 58, of Evansville was driving a 2003 Sterling truck tractor northbound on Interstate 25 about five miles north of Wheatland and was pulling a van type trailer filled with U.S. mail when his vehicle struck a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe parked on the side of the road at 2:55 a.m. Monday.

After hitting the Tahoe, Moore's vehicle went off the road and overturned. He was not wearing a seat belt and died at the scene.

* Seth Shamion, 19, of Gillette was eastbound on Interstate 90 six miles south of Sheridan at 4:30 a.m. Monday when his 1994 Buick Skylark drifted off the edge of the road and he overcorrected, causing it to roll. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car.

* Dennis Rognerud, 59, of Dansville, Calif., was driving a 2001 Dodge van that for some reason crossed the median on Interstate 80 two miles east of Rock Springs at 9:45 a.m. Monday and crashed head-on into a 2007 Peterbilt truck tractor driven by Hubert Cummings, 63, of Charleston, W.Va.

Both Rognerud - who died at the scene - and Dorothy Rognerud, 57, were wearing seat belts. She was treated and released at the Rock Springs hospital, as was Cummings.

* Maynard Hansen, 61, of Osawatomie, Kan., was killed at 6:25 p.m. Monday when his 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass drifted off of Interstate 80 two miles east of Rawlins and went through a right-of-way fence, crashing into the posts of a billboard. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Wyoming's 2006 highway death toll stood at 110 Monday, compared with 107 last year at the same time, Townsend said.

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