Two Connellsville Men Killed In Turnpike Crash

June 28, 2026 6:58 am

 State Police are investigating an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County that left two people dead.  Authorities say it happened around two-thirty Saturday morning in the eastbound lanes of I-76 near the Route 136 overpass in Hempfield Township.  According to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office, Hunter R. Fronius of Connellsville was driving a Ford Explorer eastbound with passenger Raymond M. Foster of Connellsville.  The Ford failed to negotiate a left curve and left the south shoulder. It went through a grassy embankment and collided with a bridge abutment, causing it to roll over onto its driver’s side.  Airbags were deployed, and neither Fronius nor Foster was wearing a seatbelt at the time, officials note.  Their cause of death was blunt force injuries, and the incident has been ruled accidental.  A section of the Turnpike was closed for several hours.