Third car caused crash that killed three

Driver kept going after 'devastating' U.S. 2 accident

A third vehicle caused the Aug. 26 crash that killed three people on U.S. 2 near Bad Rock Canyon, investigators revealed Thursday.

A Hungry Horse couple, Roy Allen Moore, 42, and Ginger Wilborn, 30, along with Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Evan F. Schneider, died in what authorities described as a "devastating" head-on collision.

The third vehicle, described only as white and mid-sized, was pictured on Schneider's on-board video camera.

Investigators are still searching for its driver, who did not stop at the accident scene.

Crash investigators said the recovered video shows the white car drift almost completely into the oncoming lane of traffic, forcing Moore's half-ton GMC pickup truck - which was traveling westbound - to swerve onto the shoulder and lose control.

The pickup truck veered back onto the highway and across the center line into eastbound traffic - striking Schneider's patrol car head-on at highway speeds.

Schneider, 29, had about half a second to react.

Schneider, who was driving immediately behind the white car when the crash occurred, had been attempting to catch up after observing its driver commit a speeding violation, Flathead County Sheriff's Detective Glen Fulton said.

The trooper had been traveling west on U.S. 2 between Hungry Horse and Columbia Falls about 7:15 p.m. when he noticed the violation, turned around, and passed two vehicles with his emergency lights flashing.

The video does not indicate that the driver of the white car was fleeing when the crash occurred, Fulton said.

Witnesses to the crash told investigators that the driver of the white car, who appeared to be a man, was hunched over the steering wheel and looking in the rearview mirror - only 30 to 50 yards in front of Schneider.

"We believe the driver of that white car was well aware that the accident happened and he left the scene," said Fulton, noting that the driver could not have missed the sound made by the collision.

"He caused it," Fulton said.

The video collected from Schneider's vehicle was sent to an FBI crime lab for enhancement, but the white car's license plate still is unreadable. Schneider was using an older video system that recorded on VHS tape, investigators said.

Investigators did not say whether they suspect alcohol was a factor in the crash, citing the ongoing investigation.

Moore and Schneider died at the scene. Wilborn, a mother of two who was riding in the pickup, suffered major head trauma and was airlifted to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where she died Aug. 28.

Anyone with information on the third car and driver involved in the crash is encouraged to call the Flathead County Sheriff's Office at (406) 758-5610 or the CrimeStoppers tip line at (406) 752-TIPS.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com