Distracted driving suspected in Licking County crash death

Distracted driving is suspected as the cause of a head-on crash along Rt. 79 in Licking County on Monday that killed an 18-year-old driver whose car crossed into the path of an oncoming pickup truck, a State Highway Patrol sergeant said. Christian M. Ruda, of Buckeye Lake village, was pronounced dead by the Licking County coroner's office at the scene of the crash, which occurred at 3:22 p.m. Pickup driver Robert F. Burdette, 70, of Hebron, was taken to Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster for