MONTAGUE COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) — Authorities have released the name of a Denison man who died at the Rednecks with Paychecks annual Fall Mudcrawl event outside Saint Jo this past weekend.
Montague County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jack Lawson said Rickey Doty, 61, of Denison died Saturday evening at the festival.
Authorities are awaiting results of an autopsy, but Lawson said Doty suffered an obvious head injury.
Doty was reportedly riding his side-by-side utility task vehicle (UTV) before he was found at the bottom of a steep hill.
Lawson said the other person who was in the UTV left to get help. Lawson said Doty did not have a helmet on when he was found, and a ballcap was found next to the body.
The last reported death at one of the hugely popular gatherings was the Spring Break event in 2021, when a 23-year-old McKinney man drowned when his truck went into a pond and sank.
Onlookers reported Ian Miller drove through a mudpit, went over an embankment and then into the pond. Bystanders’ efforts to rescue him were unsuccessful.
According to previous stories, the latest death raises the total to seven people who have died in accidents at the off-road event since 2015.