Investigators said Thursday that a third vehicle caused a crash that killed a state trooper and a couple from Hungry Horse.
Roy A. Moore, 42, and Ginger Wilborn, 30, died in the Aug. 26 head-on collision that also killed Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Evan Schneider, 29.
Investigators said video from Schneider’s on-board camera shows a mid-sized, white car drifting into oncoming traffic. The car causes Moore to lose control of his pickup truck and veer back onto the highway — striking Schneider’s patrol car head-on at highway speeds.
Authorities are still searching for the white car’s driver, who did not stop at the accident scene. Schneider was pursuing the vehicle for a speeding violation on U.S. 2 between Hungry Horse and Columbia Falls.
“We believe the driver of that white car was well aware that the accident happened and he left the scene,” said Glen Fulton, a Flathead County sheriff’s detective.
The trooper’s video was sent to an FBI crime lab for enhancement, but the white car’s license plate still is unreadable. Investigators said Schneider was using an older video system that recorded on VHS tape.
Moore and Schneider died at the scene. Wilborn, who was riding in the pickup, was airlifted to a Kalispell hospital, where she died Aug. 28.