Area teen released from hospital after fatal crash

AUGLAIZE COUNTY - A 17-year-old New Bremen girl recently was discharged from a Lima hospital after a two-vehicle crash Thursday that claimed the life of an 18-year-old high school senior.

Stephanie N. Elliot, 113 N. Water St., a New Bremen High School junior, was taken by squad from the intersection of county Road 25A and Buckland-Holden Road near Cridersville to St. Rita's Medical Center after the accident at 9:26 p.m. Thursday. Her injuries had been listed as serious.

Elliot was a passenger in a car driven by Troy Michael Marker, 18, 19 Circle Drive, New Bremen, who died Friday at the Lima hospital.

The second driver, Dale F. Kleman, 51, of Cridersville, suffered minor injuries and also was treated and then released from St. Rita's Medical Center.

Troopers from the Wapakoneta post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said both drivers were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

The patrol report said Marker was driving a 2006 Hyundai Sonata west on Buckland-Holden Road and failed to yield at the stop sign at county Road 25A. The car struck a 2010 GMC Acadia driven north by Kleman.

The accident remains under investigation.

Marker, the son of Carol Marker of New Bremen and Eric Marker of Troy, was the sixth person to die in a traffic accident in Auglaize County this year. His funeral Mass is slated for Wednesday at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, New Bremen.

Counselors were on hand Friday for students and staff and will return after services on Wednesday, according to school district superintendent Andrea Townsend.

"Troy was a member of our FFA program and was a very talented artist. It was his passion," she said this morning.

Townsend described Marker as a "fun-loving kid who had a great sense of humor."

Marker's teachers and other staff members will plant a tree outside the school in his memory, she added.