Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WILLARD, Box Elder County — Utah Highway Patrol troopers on Wednesday identified three people who died in a five-vehicle crash on I-15 near Willard Bay on Monday.
Troopers said Bogdan Jutrznia, 63, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and Lewis Tarrant, 76, of Seattle, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Eileen Riordan, 72, also of Seattle, died from injuries at a hospital.
Emergency crews responded to a report of a crash on northbound I-15 at about noon Monday. Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Cameron Roden said there was a prior incident near Willard that was causing traffic to slow down. A few miles south of that incident, a semitruck rear-ended a car, pushing the car forward into a van and two other semitrucks.
Troopers said in an update Wednesday that Jutrznia was driving a Volvo semitruck pulling a single trailer when, for no known reason, he "failed to recognize the slower traffic" and rammed into the back of a Ford passenger car ahead of him. The impact forced the Ford, driven by Tarrant, into a Nissan van that ended up flying off the left side of the freeway before the Ford collided again with the trailer of the semitruck that originally struck it.
The Volvo semitruck then collided with the rear of a double-trailer semitruck on the freeway, which then struck another semitruck stuck in the slowdown, according to state troopers.
Jutrznia and Tarrant were killed in the crash. Riordan, who was a passenger in the Ford, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where she later died. Others involved in the crash suffered only minor injuries.
The crash remains under investigation. Northbound I-15 was blocked for more than five hours Monday as troopers investigated the crash and cleared the scene.
