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A crash killed two people on Highway 8 in McMinnville Friday.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol identified the deceased as 45-year-old William H. McConnaughey of Pikeville and 45-year-old Michael Kelly Ruth of Texas.
A crash report listed McConnaughey as as the driver of a tractor trailer that rear-ended another semi, driven by 64-year-old Michael R. Wilheim of Murfreesboro. Ruth was listed as a passenger in McConnaughey’s vehicle.
THP officials said Wilheim was traveling North with 79,000 pounds of gravel when he stopped at a red light in a construction zone. The report said he traveled approximately 30-feet before being rear-ended by McConnaughey’s tractor trailer, which was hauling cross-ties.
McConnaughey and Kelley died upon impact, according to the report.
