REDMOND — Four members of the same family were killed Thursday evening in a fatal multi-vehicle crash along U.S. Highway 97 just north of Redmond.

“All fatal crashes are tragedies,” OSP Capt. Kyle Kennedy said in a news release. “When an entire family is lost, the tragic becomes the horrific. The impact of an incident like this on a family and community is incomprehensible. The Oregon State Police is committed to conducting a thorough reconstruction and criminal investigation.”

OSP’s preliminary investigation found that the operator of a Chevrolet Silverado, Jesse Carl Ross, 43, crossed the centerline around 7:30 p.m. while traveling north on Highway 97, the news release said.

His vehicle sideswiped a Kenworth commercial motor vehicle and trailer traveling in the opposite direction and then hit a Toyota Rav4, which caught fire and was quickly engulfed in flames, OSP said.

The Toyota was operated by Gary Rutledge, 57, of Troutdale, with Michelle Jean Windsor Rutledge, 53, Kate Rutledge, 15, and Ryan Rutledge, 17, as passengers.

All four immediate family members were declared dead at the scene, OSP said.

Thiara Oskar Singh, 50, who was driving the commercial vehicle, was not injured. Ross, who is from Corvallis, Montana, was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries.

This crash was the second of three fatal accidents in the span of 13 hours in Central Oregon. Earlier Thursday, Melonie Dawn Aldred, 51, of Culver, was killed in a head-on crash along Highway 361 in Jefferson County.

Early Friday morning, a pedestrian, James Paris, 45, was struck by a car along Bend Parkway near the exit for Empire Boulevard. Law enforcement officers declared him dead at the scene, but an investigation is being done to determine the cause of death.

The investigation for all three incidents remains under investigation.