Police Investigating Cause of 3-Car Crash, Fatal to 2

St. Louis County police are investigating the cause of a three-car collision Friday night in which a young man and a youth were killed when their car landed atop an oncoming vehicle, police said.

Dead are Dennis Conway Keller, 23 and Thomas Charles McEwen, 16, both of West St. Louis County. The two were pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood, shortly after the 10:20 p.m. accident.

Police said Keller was driving west on Big Bend Road at Priest Drive in the Manchester area when his car suddenly veered across the center line and struck an eastbound vehicle. The Keller car swerved again, overturned and landed on top of a third car, also eastbound, police said. The two occupants in the third car were injured, both treated at St. Joseph Hospital and released. The driver of the second car was uninjured.

Keller and McEwen were trapped in their car and had to be removed with emergency equipment.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) -  Sunday, May 24, 1981

Dennis Keller, 23, Manchester, Mo. and formerly of Olney, died Saturday, May 22, 1981 near his home as the result of injuries received in a three-car accident.

Burial in Haven Hill Cemetery in Olney.

Mr. Keller was born December 19, 1957 in Olney, the son of Charles and Beverly (Conway) Keller. He was a graduate of East Richland High School.

He was an upholsterer in Manchester.

Survivors include his parents; two brothers, Keith and Brian both of Manchester; a sister, Robin Curry, Ft. Wayne, Ind.; an aunt, Lois Stevenson, Champaign and a grandmother, Mrs. Zula Keller, Olney.

He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Oscar Keller.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)