A 23-year-old Fairfield, Ohio, woman has been charged in connection with a head-on crash on U.S. 52 near West Harrison, Indiana, that killed her younger sister and another young woman, and left a third passenger with two broken femurs. Kelis Manuel faces multiple counts tied to the June 14 wreck, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and operating while intoxicated endangerment.
According to Eagle Country 99.3, the charges stemmed from a crash on Harrison Brookville Road, also known as U.S. 52, and include two counts of operating a vehicle causing death with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .08 grams of alcohol, two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle while intoxicated resulting in serious bodily injury, and operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance. The charges were filed in Dearborn County, Indiana. Killed in the crash were Kimora Manuel, 21, Kelis Manuel's sister, and Le'Marea Holmes, 22.
Indiana State Police investigated the crash, which occurred on U.S. Route 52 near the intersection with State Road 46 at around 3 a.m., according to WLWT. Police said a driver in a 2020 Honda Civic was in the process of illegally passing another vehicle in a no-passing zone while traveling westbound when the vehicle collided head-on with a 2021 Volvo semi-truck pulling a box trailer in the opposite direction. Kimora Manuel and Le'Marea Holmes, both of Cincinnati, died in the crash; the station reported that alcohol is believed to be a factor, pending final toxicology confirmation.
Witness Accounts Describe Erratic Driving Before the Crash
Court documents cited by Eagle Country describe a chain of warning signs in the minutes before the collision. A witness told investigators they saw a woman wearing pink seated in the Civic's driver's seat and believed, per court documents, that she was intoxicated. The same witness said they observed the Civic stop completely in the middle of the roadway at U.S. 52 and Stout Road, and that they tried to get the car's occupants to pull into a nearby parking lot.
The witness said the women in the vehicle declined an offer of a ride home, and the Civic continued on the roadway before the fatal crash. Separately, per the affidavit, the driver of the Volvo semi said he observed Manuel's vehicle pass another car on U.S. 52 and that it did not return to the westbound lane before the collision. The truck driver attempted to swerve to avoid hitting the Civic, according to the affidavit.
Niajah Rankins, 20, was also injured in the crash and sustained extensive injuries including two broken femurs. The driver of the Civic was injured as well. Indiana's threshold for operating a vehicle while intoxicated is an alcohol concentration of .08 grams of alcohol.
A Highway With a Troubled Recent History
The June crash is far from the first fatal wreck residents have watched unfold on this stretch of U.S. 52. One resident told WLWT that over 24 years of living nearby, he had seen roughly 10 to 12 crashes and seven or eight fatalities along the highway. Residents said they had reached out to local officials about safety concerns, but the station reported that no changes have so far been made to improve driver safety on U.S. 52.
The pattern includes other recent head-on collisions on the same road. In May 2024, a head-on crash on U.S. 52 killed a 59-year-old woman and injured several others, the same WLWT report noted. Months later, in August 2024, another head-on crash on the highway killed a 17-year-old and a 22-year-old.
Possible Legal Exposure Under Indiana Law
Indiana's administrative code identifies operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death as a charge under IC 9-30-5-5, with penalties tied to death or catastrophic injury, according to Indiana Administrative Rules. The code separately identifies operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury to another person under IC 9-30-5-4, per the same state rules framework available at a separate filing.
An earlier report from WBIW identified the Civic's driver as Kelis Manuel, 22, of Fairfield, Ohio, at the time of the June crash, while the more recent charging report places her age at 23. The discrepancy in her listed age has not been resolved between the two accounts.
