Two people killed in crash on I-20 in South Carolina, Highway Patrol says

Two men were killed Saturday in a head-on crash on Interstate 20, South Carolina officials said.

Murray Kenneth Paxton, a 90-year-old Lexington resident, and 22-year-old Emery Thomas Woody of Augusta, Georgia died in the wreck, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said.

The two-vehicle collision happened at about 10:30 a.m. on the westbound side of I-20 near the 63-mile marker, said Master Trooper William Bennett of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. That’s in a part of Columbia that’s in Lexington County, in the area called Malfunction Junction.

Paxton was driving a 2020 Kia Soul east in the westbound lanes of I-20, where it collided head-on with a 2017 Nissan Sentra, officials said. Woody was driving the Nissan west in the westbound lanes, according to officials.

Both Paxton, who was wearing a seatbelt, and Woody, who was not wearing a seatbelt, died at the scene, Fisher said.

Bennett said the drivers were the only people in their respective vehicles, and no other injuries were reported.

Information about why the Kia was driving the wrong direction toward oncoming traffic was not available, but the wreck continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol and coroner’s office.

Through Jan. 18, at least 34 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2026, according to the state Department of Public Safety. A minimum of 914 people were killed in collisions in South Carolina in 2025, DPS data shows.

At least three people have died in Lexington County crashes this year, where at least 40 people died in crashes in 2025, according to DPS data.

This story was originally published January 25, 2026 at 8:48 AM.

Noah Feit

The State

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Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription