A stretch of Interstate 70 through Licking County has been named in honor of six people, including three students from Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools, who were killed in a fiery November 2023 bus crash.
A state law signed by Gov. Mike DeWine July 16 included a provision designating a portion of I-70 in Etna Township in western Licking County as the “Tuscarawas Valley Memorial Highway.”
The designation honors Tusky Valley High School students Wyatt Mosley, 18; Jeffery Worrell, 18; Katelyn Owens, 15; as well as chaperones Dave Kennat, 56; Kristy Gaynor, 39; and Shannon Wigfield, 46. The six people were traveling for the Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School band, which on Nov. 14, 2023, was headed to Columbus to perform at a conference.
This legislation ensures their memory, and the strength and unity of the Tuscarawas Valley community, will be permanently recognized, State Representatives Kevin Miller, R-Newark, and Jodi Salvo, R-Bolivar, announced in a July 18 news release on Miller’s Facebook account.
Salvo said naming the highway stretch in honor of Mosley, Worrell, Owens, Kennat, Gaynor and Wigfield is more than just a sign on the road.
“It is a pledge that we will never forget them,” Salvo said. “Their loss forever changed their families, friends and our community, and this roadway naming stands as a permanent tribute to their memory.”
The Ohio Department of Transportation will install markers identifying the memorial highway. The naming will officially be enacted on Sept. 23.
Jacob McDonald, now 63, of Zanesville, was driving a tractor-trailer around 8:45 a.m. that morning when he did not slow down for traffic that was slowing and stopped in front of him. McDonald ran over an SUV and slammed into the back of a charter bus carrying students from Tusky Valley.
Besides the six people who were killed, another 18 people were injured in the crash.
Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge Branstool found McDonald guilty of six counts of vehicular homicide, all misdemeanors, after a three-day trial, saying prosecutors had not proven that McDonald was guilty of felony aggravated vehicular homicide in the crash.
In June 2025, Branstool sentenced McDonald to 18 months in jail, the maximum sentence allowed.
McDonald received credit for the 323 days he had already served in jail at the time of his sentencing, and he was released from the Licking County Justice Center on Jan. 17 after completing his sentence. His driver’s license is suspended for five years as part of his sentence.
Delaware County and eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at mdevito@dispatch.com and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Interstate 70 stretch renamed for Tusky Valley bus crash victims
Reporting by Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
