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Police identify Purina Drive crash victims
Fatal wreck happened Tuesday
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The Gainesville Police Department "feels confident" it has identified the driver and passenger in Tuesday's fiery crash on Purina Drive, based on its investigation so far, including interviews with family members.

The department, working with the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office, said the driver of the 2007 Lexus "has tentatively been identified" as Shadron Border, 35 of Gainesville, and the passenger as Monique Malone, 32 of Gainesville.

Police have had trouble with physical identification because of the condition of the victims' bodies, Gainesville police Lt. Carol Martin said Friday.

"We do have some (information) on that. The medical examiner's office does have that," she said. "But we ... and the family are confident (in the identities)."

Martin said the police department is expecting more information, including a death certificate and dental-record identification, from the medical examiner's office next week.

Border and Malone were killed when the car struck a tractor-trailer truck about 1 a.m. Tuesday, causing both vehicles to burst into flames.

Police believe the tractor-trailer, which was carrying dog food, was turning right into the Purina warehouse when the car, traveling on Purina Drive, slammed into the truck's gas tank area and ended up wedged under it, police spokesman Kevin Holbrook said Tuesday.

The truck driver, James Allport, 36, of Malinta, Ohio, was able to escape uninjured.