UPDATED: Driver dies after collision with parked car, business

WALTON COUNTY – A 73-year-old Louisiana woman was killed Tuesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 331 after swerving to avoid an animal.

Mary D. Siler of Pearl River, La., was driving north on U.S. 331 at 1:15 p.m. when she swerved to avoid an animal in the road and lost control of her 1999 four-door Mercury, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

The front of Siler’s car struck a sign, collided with a parked 1993 Chevy pickup and then ran into Buy Gones Antiques at 5315 U.S. Highway 331.

The business sustained extensive damage, according to Diane Wospil, who has owned it for 12 years.

“A lot,” she said, when asked to quantify the damage to the building and its contents. “I am open for business, but I’m limited to one side (of that building) and my other buildings.”

Wospil said she first heard about the accident when a friend called her cell phone and asked if she was all right. The business is not open on Tuesdays. Her friend explained that a car had gone into her business.

Homicide investigators from the Florida Highway Patrol were at her business early Wednesday morning.

Siler’s passenger, Cheryl A. Siler, 43, of Destin had only minor injuries. Both women were wearing seatbelts, the report said.

The older Siler was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where she died, the report said.