Colorado State Patrol says the female driver of a Taurus, 89-year-old Odean Wheetley of Aurora, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes, when she hit a Chevrolet Yukon SUV head-on.
Wheetley died on the scene. Grier Laughlin, 37 of Aurora, was the driver of the Yukon and also died on scene.
9NEWS has learned Laughlin was well known in Colorado's swimming community. He was a member of the Cherry Creek High School swim team and coached all-American swimmers in Colorado. He was also a part of the Colorado water polo community.
His family says he was the president of Quintus Financial Services in Inverness and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1996.
The accident occurred just before 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Troopers were already en-route 10 minutes before the crash after receiving calls of a car driving the wrong way.
Laughlin's three children, a 6-year-old girl, and 4-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, who were in the Yukon, were transported to The Children's Hospital with minor injuries. A family friend says the children have since been released from the hospital.
CSP says it is unclear why Wheetley was traveling the wrong way down E-470 and are investigating a medical condition and fog as possible factors in the crash.
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