I-29 fatality crash related to Nebraska kidnapping
By NewsPress Now
An accident that killed three people Sunday morning on Interstate 29 in Atchison County is related to a Nebraska kidnapping, officials confirm.
Freemont County, Iowa, Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said in a release that his office received a call at about 6 a.m. Sunday regarding a domestic assault victim being treated at Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg, Iowa. Deputies responded and requested assistance from the Iowa State Patrol.
The woman reported that she and her 1-year-old son had been kidnapped in Nebraska by a 29-year-old male acquaintance from Bellevue, who then took them into Iowa. The suspect dropped the victim off at the hospital and then fled in a 2023 Kia Sorento with the child. The woman told officials the suspect was both suicidal and homicidal.
Iowa troopers soon located the suspect and began pursuing his vehicle near the intersection of Highway 2 and I-29 at Exit 10. Freemont County deputies attempted to intercept the vehicle traveling north from Hamburg.
Freemont County officials caught up with the pursuit on I-29 at the 5-mile marker. The suspect was speeding southbound in the northbound lane while Iowa troopers followed in the southbound lanes.
The suspect attempted to hit two Freemont County deputies, which resulted in one deputy pursuing the suspect in the northbound lane with his emergency lights on while other law enforcement officials continued the pursuit in the southbound lanes.
Missouri officials were notified as the pursuit crossed state lines. When the suspect reached the 123-mile marker just inside Missouri, he collided with a 2013 Ford Focus, which was traveling northbound and passing a 2024 semi.
The driver of the semi attempted to avoid the crash and ended up striking a patrol vehicle driven by a Freemont County deputy that was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes.
The suspect’s vehicle stopped on the Nishnabotna River Bridge and caught on fire. The man was killed in the crash.
A Freemont County deputy rescued the 1-year-old from the vehicle on fire. The child was airlifted to an Omaha area hospital with injuries not considered to be life-threatening.
The Ford Focus stopped in the median. The driver, who was an 18-year-old man, and an 18-year-old female passenger were killed. A second female passenger received serious injuries. All were Kearney, Missouri, residents.
The Freemont County deputy hit by the semi had minor injuries and was treated by a local hospital before being released. The semi’s driver, who is from Canada, was not injured.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate the crash.
