Five Dead In Thursday Kansas Two-Vehicle Crash Involving Children

HODGEMAN COUNTY, KAN. (THECOUNT) — Five people — including three young children — were killed in a Thursday afternoon and a sixth was critically injured in a two-vehicle crash on a rural southwest Kansas highway. Killed were passengers Brianna Kauffman, RaLeah May Kauffman, Ryder Keith Kauffman, and RyKer Kole Kauffman of Garden City, along with Adam William Edwards also of Garden City, the driver of the second truck. The driver of the first vehicle, Rony Baxter Martinez-Meneses of Garden City, survived and was airlifted to a Wichita hospital in critical condition. None of the six occupants were wearing seat belts.

Brianna Kauffman was 29 years old. RaLeah May Kauffman was 3 years old. Ryder Keith Kauffman was 7 years old. RyKer Kole Kauffman was 5 years old. Edwards was 45 years old.

According to officials, Martinez-Meneses’ pickup truck drifted off the rural southwest Kansas highway, overcorrected, and slammed into the family’s oncoming vehicle near Hanston. The crash occurred at approximately 1:11 p.m. on K-156 near mile marker 64, between the communities of Jetmore and Hanston — roughly 1.5 miles west of Hanston in the sparsely populated High Plains of Hodgeman County. The crash scene lies approximately 30 miles east of Garden City and about 140 miles west of Wichita. Jetmore, a community of roughly 800 residents, serves as the Hodgeman County seat and is situated about 25 minutes north of Dodge City along U.S. Highway 283.

According to the KHP crash log, Martinez-Meneses was driving a 2005 Dodge Dakota eastbound on K-156 when the truck’s passenger-side tires left the roadway. He overcorrected, causing the Dakota to spin into the westbound lane and strike a 2023 Ford Ranger driven by Edwards on its passenger side.

KHP Trooper Anthony Calderon confirmed the sequence of events and said all four passengers in the Dodge Dakota — Brianna Kauffman and the three children — along with Edwards, the sole occupant of the Ford Ranger, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their remains were transported to Beckwith Mortuary in the area.

Martinez-Meneses, 48, of Garden City was the lone survivor. He was airlifted to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, the region’s primary Level I trauma facility, with suspected serious injuries and was reported in critical condition.

K-156 was shut down in both directions for approximately six hours following the crash and was reopened at around 7 p.m. Thursday. The highway is a two-lane east-west corridor and one of the main travel arteries across rural Hodgeman County, connecting Jetmore in the west to Hanston and points east toward Pawnee County. The route sees regular truck and agricultural traffic across terrain where visibility and road conditions can change rapidly.

Hodgeman County is among the least densely populated counties in Kansas, situated in the state’s southwestern quadrant on the High Plains roughly midway between Dodge City and Great Bend. The county covers approximately 860 square miles and is home to an estimated 1,800 residents spread across Jetmore, Hanston — a small agricultural community of fewer than 300 people — and the surrounding farmland and prairie.

Garden City, the Finney County seat roughly 45 miles west of Jetmore, is a regional hub with a population of approximately 28,000. The city anchors the economy of southwest Kansas through its substantial meat-processing industry and serves as the area’s primary commercial and medical center. All five victims were Garden City residents.

The Kansas Highway Patrol’s investigation into the cause of the crash remains ongoing. No determination of cause had been issued as of Thursday evening, and the KHP had not indicated whether charges were anticipated in connection with the collision.

The approximate location of the crash scene on K-156 near Hanston can be viewed on Google Maps (approximate).

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