Tuesday, June 9, 1998 Grieving woman loses 4 grandchildren in freak crash Last modified at 12:59 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 1998 by Ann Gibson Associated Press BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- A worker, a joker, a lover and a little lady. That was how a grieving mother and grandmother described the young loved ones she lost in a freakish collision on a Kentucky interstate that also killed three adults. ''They all had their own special qualities,'' said Janet Hill, who lost her son and daughter-in-law, his son and three stepchildren in the wreck Monday. The four children ranged in age from 6 to 11. Kentucky State Police said a piece of steel lying haphazardly on the pavement of southbound Interstate 65 caused a series of collisions that happened in an instant, just before 11 a.m. CDT Monday. A southbound passenger car struck the metal object and pulled off in the emergency lane with a flattened tire, police said. But when the tractor-trailer hit the object, its driver lost control. The truck veered across the median and into the northbound lanes, where it struck a sport-utility vehicle and a minivan. A family of six from Madison, Ind., died in the violent collision at the Oakland interchange in north Warren County, about 100 miles south of Louisville. All were ejected from the sport-utility and police said they were not sure which adult had been driving. The family was returning to Indiana after visiting friends in Alabama. Killed were Ralph Jones, 29; his wife, Robyn Jones, 29; their 6-year-old son, Dylan Jones; and Ms. Jones' children, 11-year-old Suzette Garcia, and Ernie Garcia and Zachary Garcia, who were both 10 but were not twins. ''Ernie was a worker -- he was always trying to help,'' Mrs. Hill, Ralph Jones' mother, said Monday night. ''Zachary was a joker -- he was always cutting up. Dylan was the lover -- he was always the one with a hug. ''Suzette was the little lady. Even with three brothers, she was very much a girl. She wasn't a tomboy.'' Hill, also of Madison, said Mrs. Jones stayed home and took care of the children, and that her son Ralph had been a father to Mrs. Jones' children since the couple began dating about nine years ago. Acquaintances said Ralph Jones was a mechanic by trade. The origin of the metal object in the roadway remained unclear. Painted bright blue, it vaguely resembled a heavy metal post about 2 to 3 feet high on a flat stand. Police said they were trying to determine if it had fallen off a passing truck. The northbound lanes of the interstate were closed until about nightfall Monday while workers removed the crumpled vehicles and the dead and authorities reconstructed the crash. As late as six hours after the crash, the twisted remains of the family's sport-utility, the minivan and the tractor-trailer lay on and along the interstate. What had been the Jones' green sport-utility was an unrecognizable gnarl of tangled, burnt metal. One charred tire and a bare wheel rim faced skyward as the roof of what had been the passenger compartment was crushed and draped over a guardrail. Meanwhile, traffic backed up on the busy interstate as far as six miles. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press