Donita Bessent killed in U.S. 52 crash; sheriff cites failure to yield

Hamilton County sheriff’s officials say Donita Bessent failed to yield while turning onto U.S. 52 before a collision that killed her and seriously injured a married couple. Yet deputies’ initial assessment was that neither speed nor impairment appeared to be a factor. Those findings describe a preliminary reconstruction—not a completed investigation into the Anderson Township, Ohio, crash. ^{1 2}

The two vehicles collided at U.S. 52 and Eight Mile Road on Saturday night, October 31, 2026. Deputies, including the sheriff’s Traffic Safety Unit, responded just after 10 p.m. That is the approximate response time given in local reporting, not a separately established minute of impact. ^{1 4}

Bessent was driving a 2025 Honda CR-V. According to the sheriff’s account carried by FOX19, she pulled out from Eight Mile Road to turn left onto westbound U.S. 52. A 2012 Kia was already traveling west on the highway toward the junction. It struck the driver’s side of her Honda. ²

The intended direction matters to understanding that account: Bessent was turning to join westbound traffic, while the Kia was approaching in that direction. Sheriff’s officials identified a failure to yield during her turn. That is their initial explanation of how the vehicles came into collision, rather than a final legal determination of responsibility. ²

Bessent was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where she died from her injuries. The reports do not describe a death at the scene, and an exact time of death has not been established in the available account. ^{1 2}

The Kia’s driver and passenger were also taken to a hospital with serious injuries. FOX19, citing the sheriff’s office, identified the passenger as the driver’s wife. Their names and a subsequent medical-condition update have not been established in the available reporting. The serious-injury description refers to their initial hospitalization, not a newly verified assessment of how they are doing now. ²

The collision closed U.S. 52 late Saturday. An Air Care medical helicopter was requested and then called off, FOX19 reported. The available account does not explain that cancellation, so it cannot establish that anyone’s injuries were less severe than first feared—or show how each injured person ultimately reached the hospital. ²

No verified reopening time or duration of the highway closure is available. The closure belongs to the account of that night’s emergency response; it should not be read as a current warning that the road remains shut. Likewise, the November 1 dates attached to overnight reports do not move the local event from Saturday, October 31, to Sunday. ^{2 4}

The central crash details come from local outlets relaying the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office account. WLWT and FOX19 both reported the vehicles’ movements, Bessent’s death after hospital transport and the two other occupants’ serious injuries. Their reports provide a consistent initial account, but they are not separate, independently obtained reconstructions of the collision. ^{1 2}

The distinction is especially important for the assessment of contributing factors. Deputies said speed and impairment did not appear to be factors; they did not announce that every possible contributing circumstance had been excluded. FOX19 explicitly reported that the crash remained under investigation. No final findings have been verified in the available reporting. ^{1 2}

The initial evidence therefore supports a specific but limited conclusion: investigators traced the collision to Bessent’s left turn and reported a failure to yield. It does not yet supply the final investigative account or resolve what happened afterward to the two people who survived with serious injuries. ²