We have more information on that icy fatal crash on Evaro Hill last Friday. Missoula County Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen tells us the victims are 19-year old Alihn T. Anderson of Columbia Falls and his girlfriend, 17-year old Brynn A Courville of Dixon. Anderson, a member of the Columbia Falls High School class of 2024, played for the Wildcats football and basketball programs. He was the son of April and Tanner Barth.
Brynn Courville was a member of the Girls Ronan Wrestling Team.
Evaro Hill is challenging, even in perfect weather but that day it proved deadly. The Montana Highway Patrol tells us the Anderson’s vehicle was headed uphill when a downhill bound semi jackknifed, spinning across the centerline slamming into them.
But that was just the beginning of the mess created by the truck out of South Dakota. A truck, following the semi, driven by a man from Ronan, slammed into the rear of the trailer, sending the semi into a 180-degree spin. And then, the semi was hit again, this time by a Chrysler Town & Country driven by another man from Ronan, headed uphill. Fortunately, both men from Ronan were wearing seatbelts and walked-away from the multi-vehicle crash.
Both Columbia Falls and Ronan High Schools are mourning the deaths of their students and friends.
KGEZ thanks reporter Clayton Murphy, of the University of Montana School of Journalism. The Montana Broadcasters, the Newspapers Association and the Greater Montana Foundation provided funding for these reports.
