Commissioner's daughter killed in accident

The Daily Inter Lake

A Kalispell woman died in a vehicle accident near Rollins on Thursday night.

Rebecca Nielsen, 24, hit a deer on U.S. 93 near the Flathead/Lake county line, according to Dan Yonkin, deputy coroner for the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Nielsen was alone in her Pontiac sport utility vehicle at about 9 p.m. when it collided with a deer. She was seat-belted and the air bag deployed, Yonkin said.

Lake and Flathead County sheriff's offices, Rollins fire department, Polson ambulance, Lakeside Quick Response Unit, Montana Highway Patrol and the ALERT helicopter responded.

Nielsen was flown to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

"There were no obvious signs of the cause of death," Yonkin said. An autopsy was conducted Friday at the state crime laboratory.

Nielsen is the daughter of Flathead County Commissioner Gary Hall.

She is survived by a husband and two children.

According to Hall's fellow Commissioner Joe Brenneman, "Our hearts, our prayers and our thoughts go out to Gary's family at this time of such enormous tragedy … This is the sort of thing that numbs the soul."

A fund is being started for Nielsen's children.