Police identify 3 people killed in 7-vehicle I-69 pileup

AUBURN, Ind. (AP) - A Michigan couple and an Indiana man have been identified as the three people killed in a seven-vehicle pileup on a northeastern Indiana highway, police said Thursday.

Dale Eugene Lowe, 81, and his wife, Jean Elsie Lowe, 72, of Charlotte, Michigan, both died from their injuries at a Fort Wayne hospital after the SUV they were passengers in was rear-ended by a semitrailer that failed to slow for congested traffic on Interstate 69, state police said.

William Charles Heil, 65, of Angola,was pronounced dead at the scene after his car was pushed into the rear of a second semitrailer, police said.

The crash that also involved three other passenger vehicles occurred about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday on northbound Interstate 69, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) north of the Auburn exit, police said.

Auburn is north of Fort Wayne and south of the state line with Michigan.