Police name 5 motorcyclists who died in crash

Police have identified the three men and two women who were killed as the motorcycles they were riding struck a van in Lancaster County Sunday afternoon.

Gregg Specht and Darlene Black, friends of accident victims, hug next to Pennsylvania Route 72 north of Graystone Road, south of Manheim, Pa. (AP Photo/Lancaster Newspapers, Dan Marschka)Read more

by By Peter Mucha, Inquirer Staff Writer

Published Jun. 28, 2010, 8:38 a.m. ET

Three men and two women were killed, and a woman was critically injured as the three motorcycles they were riding struck a van in Lancaster County Sunday afternoon.

About 5 p.m., the bikes - all Harley Davidsons - were headed north in the 1600 block of Lancaster Road (Route 72) in Penn Township. Somehow, they collided with a taxi van based in Harrisburg, police said.

Five victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Penn Township Police, they were Linda and Samuel Lapp, both 48, of New Holland; Dennis Wilhelm Jr., 43, and Amy Wilhelm, 50, of Lancaster; and Joshua Pennington, 27, of East Earl, Lancaster County.

The sixth motorcyclist - Kristen Skowood, 27 - was in critical condition at Lancaster General Hospital.

The van driver, 64-year-old Alfred Moore of Harrisburg, was in fair condition at a hospital.

Three sides of the van were hit. "It was hit in the front end, and both sides at the real wheels," Cpl. Rodney J. King told WGAL-TV in Lancaster.

He said it was the worst accident he's seen in 20 years.