Greene woman killed in head-on crash Monday on Avenue

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Greene woman was killed Monday morning in a head-on two-vehicle crash on the Avenue of the Saints near Mason City.

The Iowa State Patrol reports that Darlene Ann Keifer, age 78, of Greene, was fatally injured about 11:30 a.m. when she crashed into a van driven by Blaine Hobart Freeman, age 54, of Elk Run Heights.

According to the report, Keifer was driving a 1988 Buick Century station wagon traveling the wrong way, east, in the westbound lane of Highway 18/27 near the Portland exit east of Mason City.

Freeman was traveling west in the westbound lane, driving a 2018 Ford transit van, and collided head-on with the Keifer vehicle near mile marker 190.

Keifer was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner, the patrol report said. Freeman was transported to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa by the Mason City Fire Department ambulance with what the report said were minor injuries.

Assisting the state patrol at the scene were Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Department of Transportation.