Man charged in 2021 Montgomery County crash that killed 2 Hamilton women

Lab sample tested positive for fentanyl, report stated.
FILE PHOTO: A four-vehicle crash on I-75 south in Vandalia killed two women on Jan. 24, 2021.

FILE PHOTO: A four-vehicle crash on I-75 south in Vandalia killed two women on Jan. 24, 2021.

A man is facing charges in a four-vehicle crash that killed a Hamilton mother and daughter in January 2021 on Interstate 75 in Vandalia.

Mark S. Frankenberg, 54, of Centerville, was charged Friday in Vandalia Municipal Court with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Two Hamilton women, 53-year-old Sarenthia Traylor and her daughter 28-year-old Cesere Traylor, died as a result of the crash, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Sarenthia died as she was being taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, where Cesere died from her injuries the next day.

Frankenberg was driving a 2012 Chrysler 300 south on I-75 on Jan. 24, 2021, near Little York Road when the car went off the right side of the road and hit a 2020 Nissan Versa on the shoulder, according to a crash report. The Nissan and a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro were stopped on the right shoulder behind an abandoned 2002 Saturn waiting for a tow, according to OSHP.

The impact from the Chrysler sent the Versa into the Camaro, which then hit the Saturn. The Traylors were in the Versa.

The driver of a the Camaro, a 29-year-old Lima man, was taken to Miami Valley Hospital with minor injuries, according to the crash report. Frankenberg also was taken to the hospital with suspected minor injuries.

Frankenberg tested positive for opiates/opioids, according to the report. A supplemental report indicated that laboratory testing of a urine sample tested positive for fentanyl.

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