Mother, 3 Daughters Killed In Train-SUV Crash

A local mother and her three daughters have been killed in a horrific crash out of state.

The mother, 45-year-old Barbara Pierson of Howell, her twin 19-year-old daughters Bessie and Margaret, and 14-year-old Elizabeth, along with Margaret's infant son, were heading home from a family gathering.

Outside the town of Waterloo near Fort Wayne, their SUV left I-69 and went down an embankment before landing on its roof on a set of railroad tracks and in the path of an oncoming train that pushed it 2,000 feet. The nine-month-old, still in his car seat, was the only survivor with a broken leg.

Authorities have not yet determined why the SUV left the freeway. A fund to cover funeral expenses, The Pierson Family Memorial Fund, has been set up at local Citizen Bank branches.

Copyright, 2011. WWJ Newsradio 950, All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.