Centre County Coroner Identifies 3 Killed in Christmas Day Crash

Three members of a Lock Haven family were killed in a Christmas Day crash in Howard Township, the Centre County Coroner’s Office reported on Monday.

Diana Lyons, 37, Richard Harriott, 33, and their 10-year-old son, who was not named in the release, died in the head-on collision Thursday near Bald Eagle State Park, according to Deputy Coroner Shane T. Dickey. All three died of blunt force trauma.

Two others who were passengers in the same vehicle sustained life-threatening injuries, state police at Rockview said on Thursday.

In a message to the Keystone Central School District on Friday, Superintendent Frank Redmon wrote that the boy who died was a student at a KCSD elementary school. The boy’s sister, a student at Central Mountain Middle School in Mill Hall, was one of the other passengers in the car and was in critical condition as of Friday, Redmon wrote.

Her condition and that of the other injured passenger have not been publicly disclosed.

“Our hearts are broken for this family,” Redmon wrote. “On behalf of the Keystone Central School District, we extend our deepest condolences to everyone grieving this unimaginable loss. We also hold the surviving family member in our thoughts and prayers, hoping for strength and healing in the days ahead.”

The crash happened at about 2:25 p.m. Thursday on Route 150/North Eagle Valley Road near Swartz Hollow Road in Howard Township. A 2009 Pontiac G6 and a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder were traveling in opposite directions when they both appear to have crossed the center line and collided, police wrote in a public information release.

Lyons, Harriott and the boy, who were in the Pontiac, were pronounced dead at the scene. The two other passengers in the Pontiac were flown from the scene by medical helicopter.

The driver of the Nissan was transported to a hospital to be treated for unknown injuries, according to police.

North Eagle Valley Road/Route 150 was closed in the area of the crash — between Howard and the entrance to Bald Eagle State Park — for about five hours.

Both vehicles sustained heavy front-end damage and were towed from the scene.

State police, Howard Fire Company, Pleasant Gap EMS, Bellefonte EMS, Blanchard EMS, Mount Nittany Medical Center EMS, STAT MedEvac, Life Flight, Rich’s Towing and the Centre County Coroner’s Office responded.

The crash remains under investigation by state police.