{"id":266963,"date":"2026-05-11T18:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266963\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T18:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:49:16","slug":"wrong-way-driver-identified-in-deadly-florida-turnpike-crash-in-indian-river-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266963\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrong-way driver identified in deadly Florida Turnpike crash in Indian River County"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The 26-year-old Fort Pierce woman who died following a wrong-way, multi-vehicle crash on Florida\u2019s Turnpike Saturday night<\/a>, has been identified by family members as Lauren Rogers.<\/p>\n

FHP says Rogers\u2019 5-year-old son suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while her 3-year-old son was critically hurt. According to a GoFundMe <\/a>set up for the family, the 3-year-old is named Kylo.<\/p>\n

Rogers’ sister, Danielle Rogers, posted about her death on Facebook:<\/p>\n

Life has taken so many things from me this year I never thought my sister would be a part of that. She was like my second mom, treated me like her child. Not in a demeaning way but in a loving a caring way. She\u2019s the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to most people she definitely influenced me in many ways mostly positive. She taught me young that i shouldn\u2019t give a f*** abt what people think. I\u2019m extremely proud of her and how far she came in such short time. She had her life on the exact track she wanted. She manifested everything she ever wanted. My sister believed so much in herself. I wish I could just hold her right now and comfort her. I miss her so much and I’m beyond devastated that I won\u2019t be able to see her beautiful smile again. I wish things could\u2019ve been different. I love you so much Lauren Lindsey. I know I had a very awkward way of expressing it but I know you know how much I love you.<\/p>\n

The crash happened around 10:05 p.m. in the northbound lanes near Mile Marker 173.5.<\/p>\n

According to FHP, Rogers was driving a white 2025 Kia K4 southbound in the northbound inside lane when she collided head-on with a northbound 2023 Chrysler Pacifica.<\/p>\n

The impact caused a chain-reaction crash involving a third vehicle, a 2017 GMC Canyon traveling in the outside northbound lane.<\/p>\n

See also: Police search for missing 15-year-old boy in Fort Pierce<\/a><\/p>\n

Troopers say the front left of Rogers\u2019 car struck the front left of the Chrysler. The collision forced her vehicle into the grassy median, where it came to rest facing south.<\/p>\n

The Chrysler was pushed into the outside lane, where it rotated and hit the GMC pickup before coming to rest in the inside lane. The pickup truck was able to come to a controlled stop on the shoulder.<\/p>\n

Rogers was pronounced dead at the scene by St. Lucie County Fire Rescue.<\/p>\n

The driver of the Chrysler, a 22-year-old man from Margate, and three passengers \u2014 women from Royal Palm Beach, ages 24, 50, and 74 \u2014 were all taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

In the GMC, a 48-year-old Mount Dora man driving and a 23-year-old passenger were not hurt. A 46-year-old female passenger had minor injuries.<\/p>\n

The northbound lanes were shut down for several hours overnight and reopened around 6:15 a.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

See also: Grandma stabbed 11 times on Mother\u2019s Day after grocery-hauling dispute, WPB police say<\/a><\/p>\n

The crash remains under investigation. A full traffic homicide report is expected within 90 days.<\/p>\n

In the days following the crash, loved ones created a GoFundMe fundraiser to help Rogers\u2019 family with funeral expenses and other unexpected costs. Those who knew her say she was deeply devoted to her family.<\/p>\n

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information is asked to contact the Florida Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The 26-year-old Fort Pierce woman who died following a wrong-way, multi-vehicle crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-266963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}