Pretrial hearing set in fatal accident

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A 21-year-old Alliance woman will be back in Youngstown Municipal Court in July for trial on charges stemming from a Feb. 14 traffic accident in which a 45-year-old woman died and her mother was seriously injured.

Samantha Yoder was scheduled to appear Monday before Judge Robert Douglas of Youngstown Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing. Nothing was conducted on the record, however, but the court did set a July 3 trial date.

Yoder is charged with vehicular homicide and failure to obey a traffic control device. Susan Welsh was killed in the accident at Fifth and Rayen avenues on the city’s North Side. Her mother, 79-year-old Elaine Welsh, was injured.

Yoder is free on a personal recognizance bond.

She appeared in court with a man reported to be her husband and her attorney Derek Lowry. Lowry said his client is an upstanding married woman continuing to attend Youngstown State University pending her trial.

Susan Welsh was a passenger in a car driven by her mother traveling westbound on Rayen about 3 p.m. Yoder, attending nearby YSU, was traveling southbound on Fifth when she struck the car containing the Welsh women.

Elaine Welsh was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment, but Susan Welsh died two days later.