Highway 37 wreck claims life

June 10
Ezra DeVore
     Linda Gunter, 74, died in a Highway 37 wreck Tuesday morning at 11:47 a.m., one mile south of Butterfield. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, a 2009 Freightliner UPS van was being driven south by John Maddux, 47, when Maddux failed to yield and turned in front of Gunter’s southbound 2015 Ford Taurus. The Ford then struck the Frieghtliner’s rear, pushing the Freightliner into 59 year old Geoffrey Timper’s northbound 2015 Chevrolet Silverado. 

     Gunter was taken by Mercy EMS to Springfield Mercy Hospital, and pronounced dead at 2:11 p.m. by Dr. Kenneth Larson. Her passenger, Sammie Gunter, 42, was taken to Cox Monett Hospital by EMS with serious injuries. Maddux and Timper were unharmed in the accident, and were wearing safety devices. Linda and Sammie Gunter were not. The Gunters’ Ford Taurus and Maddux’s Freightliner were extensively damaged, but damage to Timper’s Chevrolet was minor. 
      Gunter’s marks June 2021’s fourth fatality, and the fiftieth of the year among the eighteen counties of Troop D patrol.