Two men survive tragic crashFreezing victims identity released

HOT SPRINGS — Authorities have released the name of the 21-year-old Arlee man who was found frozen to death on March 10 and those of the two men who survived the early morning crash and subzero windswept conditions.

William Jordan Prewett was the driver of the car that veered off the road around 4 a.m. and crashed into the Little Bitterroot Creek east of Hot Springs. According to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Patrick Herman, the car was partly submerged and all three men got drenched in the process of exiting the vehicle — worsening the situation with the threat of hypothermia.

Prewett left the scene to look for help, but was found frozen to death approximately a half-mile south of the crash site near 1 p.m. the next day — the conclusion of a seven-hour search with over 30 search and rescue members on the ground from Lake and Sanders counties. Harsh, freezing winter conditions and high winds made it difficult for rescuers to track the missing man, who had shed a jacket and was not wearing any shoes when found in an adjacent field that afternoon.

The passengers — Chris Santos and Adam Burnett — took shelter in a row of haystack bales on the corner where the car left the road. The two 21-year-old Arlee men huddled in the haystack to survive the bitter cold and fight the onset of hypothermia amongst conditions that were negative 25 degrees with windchill when authorities arrived on scene that morning.

Santos and Burnett were found around 6 a.m. on Tuesday by a county snowplow driver and taken to Clark Fork Valley Hospital to recover from minor injuries. Trooper Herman stated that he believed the hay bales saved the passengers’ lives, and very well could have saved Prewett’s life if he had stayed behind with them.

The investigating officer also reported that both passengers said they had taken the corner too fast before crashing into the creek, and that all three men had been drinking.