61-year-old woman dies after northwest Indiana crash

A 61-year-old woman died early Thursday after her van collided with a semi truck Wednesday afternoon in northwest Indiana.

Patricia DeFries was driving a 2004 van westbound on County Road 800 North when she went through the intersection at State Road 55 in Lake Village, Indiana, and into the path of a northbound semi, according to the Newton County sheriff’s office and Lake County coroner’s office.

DeFries, of Demotte, Indiana, was taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Crown Point, where she died at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, according to the coroner’s office. She died of blunt force trauma from the crash.

The driver of the semi, a 38-year-old South Bend man, was also hospitalized, according to the sheriff’s office.