An early morning crash involving two vehicles on Milnes Road, east of Albers Road, resulted in the deaths of both drivers. They were the only people in the vehicles and were identified by the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office as Edward Brown, 48, of Hickman and Todd Mendenhall, 52, of Waterford.

According to the CHP report, at about 7:25 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 20, Brown, who was wearing his seatbelt, was driving a 2008 GMC eastbound on Milnes Road. Mendenhall, unrestrained in his 2009 Chevrolet, was westbound on Milnes Road. For an unknown reason, Brown allowed his vehicle to drift into the westbound lane, directly toward Mendenhall’s vehicle. Both vehicles collided head on before coming to rest on Milnes Road, east of Albers.

Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.

Milnes Road was temporarily closed during the investigation. Traffic conditions were light at the time of the collision, the weather was cloudy with intermittent rain.