Two Old Fort residents are dead after crashing into a fallen tree on a McDowell County roadway Thursday night.

Just before 7:30, the state highway patrol reports a passenger car was traveling west on Tom’s Creek Road whenever it struck a tree lying in the road.

The impact caused the vehicle to leave the roadway, striking another tree before coming to a stop.

The trooper reportedly stated it was very unlikely the driver saw the tree, and that speed and impairing substances were not factors in the accident.

The car’s passenger, 64-year-old Sharon Tipton Lewis, was pronounced dead on the scene, while the driver, 70-year-old Billy Dean Lawing, was airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville but later died from injuries sustained in the wreck.

A Marion man allegedly steals a car and authorities later find him passed out behind the wheel.

27-year-old John Mark Jenkins of 40 Madac Drive was charged with two counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, one count of larceny, possession of drug paraphernalia and larceny of a motor vehicle.

A 2014 Hyundai had been reported stolen from Clayton Thomas of Old Highway 10 West Marion.

While responding to a report of an unresponsive subject in a vehicle, McDowell deputies located Jenkins in the stolen car along with drug paraphernalia items.

An investigation showed Jenkins had been to Thomas’ residence, broke into a separate car and stole the keys to the Hyundai.