EVENDALE, Ohio -- The Fairfield couple killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver on I-75 Friday were almost home.
Nazih Shtaiwi, 61, and his wife Halla Odeh Shtaiwi, 55, were returning from a family gathering in Kentucky, a relative said. The couple have four children in college, Halla Odeh's brother told WCPO. He provided a photo of them but politely declined to say anything else.
A neighbor of the Shtaiwis said they frequently hosted big family functions. “You can tell they were a close family,” he said.
The couple was driving northbound near Neumann Way when a Suburban heading southbound collided with their Audi A8 about 3:30 a.m., according to the Evendale Police Department. The 30-year-old rapper driving the Suburban, Kory Wilson, of Springfield Township, was also killed.
Shtaiwi family gathers at Fairfield home. Photo: Michael D. Pitman | Journal-News
James Gist, 36, of Hamilton, was in the third car involved in the crash. He was transported to Mercy Fairfield with non-life threatening injuries.
The Suburban's engine was pushed back into the passenger compartment by the impact.
A 911 caller reported an older-model Suburban or Blazer going "pretty fast" in the wrong direction on the northbound lanes right after the Lockland split. Just a minute later, another 911 call reported the crash.
Listen to 911 calls from first drivers upon the scene Friday morning in the player below.
LISTEN to the anonymous 911 caller who first reported the older-model Suburban driving "pretty fast" in the wrong way in the player below.
Officials redirected traffic to an access road off Shepherd Lane that connects past the GE plant to Glendale-Milford Road, where commuters could get back onto northbound I-75.
Officials briefly shut down the interstate at Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway around 6 a.m., but have since re-opened it at that intersection.
Northbound I-75 reopened around 9 a.m.
Serious crash on I75 at Shepherd Lane. Northbound lanes closed. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/Uks7n7zBJm
— Jordan Burgess (@WCPOJordan) April 8, 2016
WCPO is following this story and will have more details as they become available.
