A fiery Friday afternoon crash on U.S. 35 in front of Stelrema closed the highway and sent one person to IU Health Starke Hospital to be checked out. It happened around 3:15 this afternoon. Jennifer Bye, 40, of LaPorte, was southbound on 35 in a Chevrolet TrailBlazer and slowed for a farm implement crossing CR 250 N. William Trent, 36, of Hamlet, was behind Bye in a Buick and was unable to avoid rear-ending her, spinning her SUV into a ditch on the east side of the highway. Trent’s car burst into flames. Neither driver was injured. A juvenile passenger in Bye’s car was taken by ambulance to the hospital as a precautionary measure. Firefighters from the Knox-Center Township Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the blaze. The heat was so intense a portion of the pavement beneath the car melted.
