Sarah Iler and the baby's father, Matt Rider, were headed Wednesday from Cape Girardeau, where they lived, to a hospital in Poplar Bluff, a city about 60 miles southwest where she grew up, when his SUV was struck by a tractor trailer, the Southeast Missourian reported (http://bit.ly/1Tdhr9l ).
Upon arriving at the scene, officers began performing CPR on Iler in an attempt to save her and the baby, but Iler was declared dead upon arrival at a Cape Girardeau hospital, he said.
The newborn, who weighed 4 pounds and 15 ounces and was full-term when she was born, was immediately put on a ventilator.
[...] doctors don't yet know if she suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen after her mother's death, relatives said.
