Elderly Defiance woman dies in semi crash

A 75-year-old Defi­ance woman died in a 2-vehicle crash on Wednes­day night on U.S. 24 near Napoleon.
Karol Beil­harz was dri­ving just before 7 p.m. on Henry County Road 17D and try­ing to cross the 24 when she pulled in front of a semi. The vio­lent crash ended with both vehi­cles hit­ting a con­crete cul­vert and the semi truck landed on top of the woman’s Impala.

The semi dri­ver, 26 year old Der­rick Jones, Jr. is from Dear­born Heights, Michigan.

Karol Beil­harz, 75, of Inde­pen­dence Road in Defi­ance was killed in the crash.

Beil­harz was pro­nounced dead at the scene. Jones was taken by Napoleon Fire and Res­cue to Henry County Hos­pi­tal, where a con­di­tion update was unavailable.