Fatality on Pea Ridge Road claims life of Milledgeville woman

Wreck halts traffic, spawns another minor head-on collision

A head-on collision on Pea Ridge Road yesterday took the life of an elderly woman and had traffic shut down for four hours, authorities say.

Linda Kelley, 75, of Milledgeville, was killed in the wreck which happened around 12:08 p.m., according to Putnam County Sheriff Department's Col. Russell Blenk and Sgt. Jeffrey Duncan.

Linda Kelley was the passenger in a vehicle being driven by her wife, Mary Kelley, 63, also of Milledgeville. The two were traveling south on Pea Ridge Road when their 2020 Hyundai Tucson SUV was struck by a pickup truck, according to Duncan.

Juan Alvarez-Cruz, 39, was driving the pickup, a 2010 Ford F150, traveling north on Pea Ridge when he ran off the shoulder of the road, overcorrected and crossed the center yellow line and struck the Kelleys’ SUV.

According to Duncan, Cruz was pulling a trailer on his pickup that was loaded with landscaping equipment.

Linda Kelley was pronounced dead at the scene, Mary Kelley was flown by air medical service helicopter to a Macon hospital for treatment of serious injuries, Blenk said.

Cruz was taken to Putnam General Hospital in Eatonton for minor injuries.

When he was released from Putnam General, Cruz was arrested on charges of first-degree homicide by vehicle, failure to maintain lane, DUI-alcohol, driving without a license, and open container, according to Blenk. He remains in Putnam County jail.

Traffic was blocked for four-and-a-half hours, according to Deputy Chris Donovan, who said they would open the road and then close it again due to various circumstances.

A box truck driver who attempted to turn around and get out of the stalled traffic got bogged down on the roadside, and a tow truck was brought in to get the truck out. Also, a dump truck driver ignored firefighters who were directing traffic around the wreck.

Donovan said that the driver went into the other lane and hit a semi-tractor trailer head-on, but no one was injured because of the slow speed they were both traveling.