A ride in a stolen car turned fatal for a teenager from Holt County early Sunday morning. Sergeant Sheldon Lyon of the Missouri State Highway Patrol tells us this is the third traffic fatality in Troop-H within about a week in which the teenage victims were not wearing safety belts.

“We’d like to see parents revisit the issue with their kids,” Lyon said. “They need to wear it, not because some trooper is going to write them a ticket, but they need to wear it because it’s going to save their life in the right circumstance.”

Lyon says the patrol is still investigating the stolen car report.

Investigators say 17-year-old Kodi Parsley of Oregon, Missouri was driving the stolen 2006 Chevy Impala southbound on I-29 about 12 miles north of St Joseph at about 3 a.m. Sunday. The vehicle left the highway, struck an embankment, and rolled several times.

Parsley was not wearing a safety restraint and was ejected. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Andrew County Coroner Ron Crouse.

The Impala was reported stolen from Holt County.

On September 7, two teenagers from Princeton were killed in a rollover accident on Route-C east of Princeton in Mercer County. Troopers say neither Emily Clark, 16, nor Kelsey Purdun, 17, were wearing seat belts at the time of that crash.