The elderly couple told police they had been duped out of thousands of dollars and that their Social Security checks were diverted to Georgia, which gave detectives their first real clue.An Illinois woman and a Warsaw man died from separate crashes Thursday in Kosciusko County, according to the sheriff’s department.
Paula M. Harwood, 39, of Bourbonnais, Ill., died from head injuries suffered in a midday crash on U.S. 30 west of Pierceton, the sheriff’s department said.
She was a passenger on a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle driven by her husband, Thomas C. Harwood, 44.
The back tire blew out, making the motorcycle skid and flip, witnesses told authorities. The couple were ejected, and the motorcycle apparently hit Paula Harwood as it was rotating.
Thomas Harwood, an off-duty police officer, was also injured when he landed on the pavement. Neither was wearing a helmet, the sheriff’s department said.
Paula Harwood was taken to Fort Wayne’s Parkview Regional Medical Center in critical condition and later died. Her husband, taken to the same hospital, was in serious but stable condition Friday.
Thursday night, a driver was killed after hitting a utility pole west of Warsaw.
Emergency crews were dispatched about 9:15 p.m. to the scene of the crash on County Road 350 West just north of County Road 200 North, where they found a wrecked 1996 Ford Contour in a cornfield.
Shaun C. Owens, 32, of Warsaw was declared dead at the scene, the sheriff’s department said.
Investigators determined that Owens was going north on County Road 350 West and lost control of the car. He overcorrected after cresting a small hill and slid off the road into the pole.
Owens was wearing a seat belt, but the force of the impact partly ejected him from the car, the sheriff’s department said.
