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One of the cars involved in a fatal head-on crash on I-5 early Tuesday.(Photo: Courtesy of Oregon State Police)

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A wrong-way driver, who police believe was under the influence of alcohol, caused a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 5 early Tuesday that killed one and severely injured several others.

According to Lt. Josh Brooks, spokesman for the Oregon State Police, 49-year-old Audrey Bliven of Salem was driving a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta when she somehow managed to drive the wrong way on I-5, heading north in southbound lanes of travel.

Police began receiving reports of the wrong-way vehicle around 2:50 a.m. as she was driving near Brooks.

Barely a minute later, callers reported that the Jetta had crashed head-on into another vehicle near milepost 266.

That other vehicle was a black BMW 320, which contained three occupants. The woman riding in the front passenger seat, 49-year-old Deana Deleon of Nyssa, was killed in the crash.

One of the cars involved in a fatal head-on crash on I-5 early Tuesday. (Photo: Courtesy of Oregon State Police)

The driver, 37-year-old Juan Ledesma of Renton, Wash., was injured in the crash and taken to Salem Hospital.

A 7-year-old girl in the backseat was critically injured and also taken to Salem Hospital. The girl, whose name was withheld by police, was later transported to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland.

Bliven survived the crash, and was transported to Salem Hospital for treatment. Upon her release, Brooks said, police arrested her on charges of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, driving under the influence, assault, recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving.

The criminal investigation is ongoing. Brooks said that, as of 10:30 a.m., Bliven was being currently processed at the Marion County jail.

Audrey Bliven (Photo: Courtesy of Oregon State Police)

The crash shut down southbound lanes of travel of I-5 for several hours early Tuesday morning. By 7:30 a.m., the road had been fully reopened.

Brooks said that there were no Salem-based state troopers on duty at the time of the crash.

But as soon as the crash occurred, Brooks said, troopers were called in to respond "immediately."

"The Salem patrol office is staffed from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., so there is a small window," Brooks said during a press conference held Tuesday morning.

He confirmed that although staffing levels had "dipped," the office had made several new hires.

"It's part of the ebb and flow here in the office," he said.

Other recent crashes on stretches of Interstate 5 in Salem and south of Salem have brought attention to the lack of cable barriers along the median, which when installed help prevent crossover crashes.

But officials with the Oregon Department of Transportation confirmed that cable barriers were installed where Tuesday's crash occurred and that a median crossover was not how Bliven's northbound car got onto the southbound lanes.

ODOT spokeswoman Shelley Snow said Oregon sees, on average, one wrong-way crash per month. In 2013, there were 18 crashes on Oregon interstates involving wrong-way drivers. Nine of those also involved alcohol.

Updates will be posted as they become available.

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