Woman, child killed in Bartow crash

A woman and a 4-year-old child were killed in a wreck on I-75 in Bartow County on Friday afternoon, and authorities are searching for the tractor-trailer involved in the crash.

Maria Tabuena, 29, of Calhoun and her young passenger, Melina Trichell, were in a 1998 Ford Expedition traveling northbound in the right lane at Exit 293 when a tractor-trailer changed lanes and struck the left side of their vehicle, Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said. The truck continued on as the Expedition ran off the road, hit a guardrail and an overhead sign support post, and caught fire, he said.

The truck is described as a late-90s, “long-nose,” maroon Peterbilt with a silver trailer. Witness told authorities that the vehicle was “very dirty.”