Two people died early Tuesday when the driver of a 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer lost control of the SUV and hit a large utility pole on Lansdowne Drive near Zandale Drive in south Lexington just after 4 a.m.

The impact split the SUV in two.

The passenger, Traci Adkins, 28, of Lexington, was thrown from the vehicle.

Both she and the driver were pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the driver, a 27-year-old man, is being withheld until notification of next of kin.

Neither victim was wearing a seat belt. Alcohol is suspected as a factor in the crash, Lexington police said.

Adkins, originally from Pine Knot, had lived in Lexington for four or five years, said an aunt, Linda Bryant of Whitley City.

She said Adkins had a 7-year-old son. She had been out of school for a while but was planning to return to college this fall to get a degree in elementary education.

Adkins' mother, Lawanna Chesnut, who lives in Alabama, had talked to Adkins by telephone Monday evening.

"She had been doing her paperwork for school," Bryant said.

She said the family does not know who Adkins was with early Tuesday or what happened leading up to the crash.

She said Adkins worked at a restaurant in the Hamburg area.

"She was going to school and working," Bryant said. "She was a very sweet person."

Pine Knot Funeral Home is handling arrangements.