Police are releasing information about what led to a deadly three-vehicle crash that shut down eastbound Interstate 80 in Mercer County for eight hours on Monday.

Investigators say a pickup truck rear-ended a Jeep SUV in Wolf Creek Township just after noon, pushing the Jeep into the back of a tractor-trailer also traveling east.

The Jeep was heavily damaged, rolling onto its roof, trapping a front seat passenger, 80-year-old John Lesher of Gratz, Pennsylvania. Lesher was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Jeep’s driver, 80-year-old Laura Lesher, was injured and flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.  Two other passengers in Lesher’s SUV, girls ages 11 and 16, sustained minor injuries.

Neither the pickup truck driver, 33-year-old Shayne Stanford of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, nor two passengers were injured.  The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.