Cecil County woman killed in single-vehicle crash near Elkton

ELKTON — A Cecil County woman was killed when the vehicle she was driving ran off a two-lane road near Elkton and crashed into a shallow creek, according to Maryland State Police.

Investigators identified the victim as Carrie Loree Knox, 45, of Elkton.

Knox was pronounced dead at the crash scene off Appleton Road, adjacent to the Tri-State Christian Academy property to the northeast, police reported.

MSP troopers assigned to the agency’s North East Barrack responded to the scene at approximately 8:15 a.m. Monday after receiving a dispatch regarding a single-vehicle crash on Appleton Road, a short distance northeast of Riverside Drive, police said. Troopers found Knox, who was deceased, inside of a 2005 Ford Escape that was overturned in the creek, police added.

Based on the preliminary investigation, Knox was driving the sport utility vehicle in the southbound lane of Appleton Road, north of Riverside Drive, when she inexplicably lost control of the SUV, according to police. At that point, the Ford Escape crossed over the northbound lane and then “traveled more than 260 feet off the road,” police reported.

The SUV then entered what investigators described as a “densely wooded area,” where it came to rest in the creek, police said.

As of Tuesday, investigators still were trying to determine when the fatal, single-vehicle crash occurred, before someone noticed the SUV in the creek and reported it.

“Knox has been transferred to the Chief Medical Examiner Office (in Baltimore) for an autopsy. The cause of the crash remains under investigation,” an MSP spokesperson said.

Numerous first responders — including MSP troopers, paramedics and firefighters — could be seen in a field beside a stretch of woods, which blocks the creek from view, at approximately 9 a.m. Monday. Also present were two tow trucks, which were used to pull the vehicle from its resting place and haul it away. MSP Crash Team investigators also worked at the scene.