Brother and sister identified as victims in Thursday Eastover crash

CORRECTION: A family member tells The State that Jonell Weatherly was 78 years old, not 77-years-old and was a life-long resident of Sumter and not from Oswego, as first reported.

The two people killed Thursday afternoon in a crash near Eastover were James Arthur Peagler, 80, of Dalzell and his sister, Jonell Peagler Weatherly, 78, of Oswego, Richland County coroner Gary Watts said in a news release.

Thursday was Weatherly’s birthday.

At 4:44 p.m., their 2013 Toyota SUV pulled into U.S. 601 (McCords Ferry Road) after stopping at the stop sign on Community Pond Road, said Lance Cpl. Matt Southern of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. A tractor trailer traveling south on U.S. 601 struck the vehicle, trapping the driver, Peagler, and Weatherly inside. Both victims died on the scene from blunt force trauma, Watts said.

The accident remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol, but no charges are anticipated against the Miami-based driver of the truck, Southern said.

Rachael Myers Lowe

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Brother and sister identified as victims in Thursday Eastover crash."