One dead, one seriously hurt in head-on crash near Saint Meinrad

A head-on crash on State Road 162 just west of Saint Meinrad left Amber Gogel, 37, of Dale, dead at the scene and sent Amanda Kern, 40, of Dale, to Deaconess Memorial Medical Center in Jasper with serious injuries. Indiana State Police said the wreck happened about 8:20 p.m. Monday in Spencer County, on the corridor north of State Road 62 that many Dubois County-area drivers use when moving between the Saint Meinrad area and the broader southern Indiana highway network.

State police said Gogel was driving a 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer northbound when it went left of center and struck Kern’s 2014 Dodge Durango head-on in the southbound lane. Investigators have identified Trooper Levi Hupp as the lead officer, with help from Senior Trooper Tatum Rohlfing, Trooper Jack Fischer, the Spencer County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Claus Police Department, the Spencer County Coroner, Spencer County EMS and Jaws Towing of Santa Claus. Police have notified both families, and Kern was listed in stable condition after the ambulance trip to Jasper.

The Spencer County Coroner scheduled an autopsy for Wednesday morning, April 30, and the crash remains under investigation. That means state police can confirm the time, location, vehicles, drivers, deaths and injuries, but not yet a final cause beyond the preliminary finding that the Trailblazer crossed the center line. In a rural county like Spencer, that distinction matters: the initial report points to a lane-departure crash, but investigators still have to sort out what led to it.

The wider safety context is sobering. Indiana crash-safety data show rural roads accounted for 60% of the state’s fatalities and 66,945 crashes in 2022, and speeding was listed as the primary factor in nearly 6,000 crash reports. State analysts also note that rural collisions are more likely to turn fatal because they often happen at higher speeds and with longer response times for emergency crews. Those same officer reports feed the ARIES crash system and county-level safety books used across Indiana, including in Dubois County, to track whether deadly wrecks are isolated or part of a recurring roadway risk.