October 23, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was killed Wednesday in a car accident in her northern Indiana District, according to her office.
“Jackie’s husband was just informed by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s office that Jackie was killed in a car accident this afternoon. She has returned home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. We will have no further comment at this time,” her office said in a statement.
The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said they were called to the scene of a two-vehicle crash shortly after noon.
The crash happened about 12:30 p.m. when an SUV Walorski was riding in crossed the centerline on a state highway and collided head-on with a car, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said. Three people in the SUV, including Walorski, 58, were killed, as was a woman driving the other car, authorities said.
The sheriff's department initially reported that the car crossed the centerline, but a news release Thursday corrected that to say it was the SUV.
Walorski, who served on the House Ways and Means Committee, was first elected to represent Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in 2012. She previously served three terms in the state’s legislature.
Walorski was born in South Bend and lived near Elkhart, Indiana. She and her husband were previously missionaries in Romania, where they established a foundation that provided food and medical supplies to impoverished children. She worked as a television news reporter in South Bend before her turn to politics.
