KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Weeks after a college senior died in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 29, the man accused of hitting her has been charged.

On Oct. 4, 2025, at approximately 3:38 p.m., 21-year-old Rita Yanez and 22-year-old Rueben Rivera were driving north on I-29. As they approached US-169, a car driving the wrong way hit their Honda Accord head-on, sending it into a third vehicle, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported at the time.

Yanez died at the scene and Rivera was seriously injured. The driver in the third vehicle had minor injuries.

According to documents filed by the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office, the driver of the wrong-way vehicle, Kenneth B. Wilson, 36, is now facing eight felony charges related to the deadly crash.

Second-degree murder; committing felony m

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