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Woman Sues Over Deadly MagnaGrow Accident

Rowena Hillebert alleges that MagnaGro and its owner did nothing to prevent an accident that injured her and killed her brother.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- A Eudora woman who was injured in an industrial accident that killed two co-workers, including her brother, is suing a Lawrence company and its owner.

Rowena Hillebert alleges that Magnagro Corp. and its owner, Raymond Sawyer, did not take precautions to prevent the April 1, 2010 accident.

Hillebert says she was nearly asphyxiated when she tried to rescue her brother, 51-year-old Roy Hillebert, from a tank he had fallen into. Roy Hillebert and 25-year-old Brandon Price died after being overcome by fumes while mixing a product at the company's fertilizer plant.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/oFnwn3) that Sawyer is currently serving a nine-month prison sentence in Oklahoma City for previous legal problems.

The allegations include that he grabbed and pushed Rowena Hillebert in his office eight months after the accident.

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