Ronan woman killed in head-on wreck
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DEER LODGE — Powell County Coroner John Pohle has released the name of a Ronan woman killed in a head-on collision near Garrison last week.
According to Pohle, 57-year-old Ronan resident Patricia Elaine Graves was killed around noon Jan. 8 in a head-on collision on Interstate 90 just west of Garrison.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol and Powell County Prosecutor Lewis Smith, a Ford Explorer driven by 41-year-old Sandpoint, Idaho, resident Christopher M. Kepler was traveling westbound on I-90 in the eastbound lane when he struck a Dodge pickup truck pulling a trailer.
Graves’ husband was driving the pickup, while Graves was in the passenger seat.
According to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Thomas Gill, witnesses said the Explorer had been driving in the wrong direction for up to five miles before the accident, but investigators believe the actual distance was more like two miles.
“He was just driving along like it was a regular two-lane road,” Gill said. “We know (Kepler wasn’t driving in the wrong direction) for longer than five miles, because we had a few officers on the road, and he never went past us.”
The Explorer struck the pickup head-on and toward the passenger side, sending the pickup onto the median and breaking the trailer’s receiver hitch. Gill said it takes “quite a bit of force” to break such a hitch.
The collision was powerful enough to crush the passenger side of the pickup into the truck’s dashboard.
Gill said Graves was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Her husband was taken to Deer Lodge Medical Center where he was treated for abrasions and a cut on his eyelid that required stitches.
Kepler was transported by MHP officers to Deer Lodge Medical Center, where blood was drawn for a toxicology screening. He was then taken into custody and remains in Powell County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Gill said investigators have not reached a conclusion as to whether or not drugs were involved and are awaiting the results of the toxicology screening.
“We’re waiting on those results, but we also believe there are other things involved,” Gill said. “One possibility would be lack of sleep; another possibility is that (Kepler) was not on the medication he was supposed to be taking.”
All parties were wearing their seatbelts, and the road conditions at the time of the wreck were fair and dry. Neither vehicle rolled.
The Powell County Attorney’s Office filed negligent homicide and criminal endangerment charges, both felonies, against Kepler last week.
“The highway patrol investigation of the incident is continuing, and upon receipt of the reports, a determination will be made if additional charges are warranted,” a press release from the Powell County Attorney’s Office said.
Kepler is scheduled to appear in Powell County District Court Jan. 29.
