Updated on: November 25, 2025 / 4:37 PM EST / CBS Colorado
Five people died and two others were critically injured after a head-on crash Monday evening on Highway 83 south of Franktown, Colorado, the Colorado State Patrol said.
The collision, which occurred at dusk near the intersection with South Russellville Road in eastern Douglas County, involved a Toyota Matrix and a Ford Fusion. CSP said the Matrix was traveling south on Highway 83, drove onto the right shoulder, overcorrected, rolled into northbound lanes and struck the Fusion head-on. A Ford pickup driving behind the Fusion stopped just short of the wreck.
The driver of the Matrix, a 31-year-old man from Denver, was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected when the vehicle rolled; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Fusion, a 35-year-old man from Colorado Springs, and three juvenile passengers in the Fusion’s back seat — an 8-year-old, a 12-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl — were also killed. Two other children in the Fusion — a 13-year-old girl in the front passenger seat and a 14-year-old boy in the back — were airlifted to hospitals with what were reported as life-threatening injuries. CSP said the Fusion’s driver and front passenger were wearing seatbelts. Authorities have not released the identities of the deceased.
Investigators later confirmed the Matrix had been reported stolen earlier Monday afternoon in a carjacking at the Nine Mile Station parking structure in Aurora. Aurora police said the owner reported that a man approached her as she was getting into the vehicle, held the door open, asked for a ride and then pulled her from the driver’s seat before driving off. Police later determined the person who carjacked the Matrix was the driver involved in the Highway 83 crash.
Highway 83 was closed in both directions for several hours while authorities investigated and cleared the scene. A separate crash in the Franktown area that evening also affected traffic; at one point both Highway 86 and Highway 83 were shut down. Franktown Fire Rescue described the incidents on social media as “complex.”