Great Falls woman dies after car hits Missouri

A woman in her late 20s was killed early Thursday morning when her car went off Rainbow Dam Road into the icy Missouri River more than 40 feet below.

The vehicle was discovered by emergency responders early Friday morning.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Tom Taylor said the woman's name would not be released Friday, pending notification of the family. He said the woman was not a native of Great Falls but had moved here and was living with her boyfriend.

Great Falls Police Lt. Jeff Newton said police received a call Thursday from a friend of the woman saying she was missing, which initiated the search for her. The case later moved into the jurisdiction of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Highway Patrol.

Taylor, who is the lead investigator on the case, said tire tracks at the scene suggest that neither speed, alcohol nor foul play were factors in the crash. He said that though the investigation is in its early stages, it seems icy road conditions led the woman, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, to lose control of her 2009 Toyota Yaris.

"Anytime you have a roadway that's icy and gravel, we're going to find that that's a contributing factor in the crash," Taylor said.

He added that based on the tire tracks and information found in the car, he deemed it unlikely that the crash was intentional.

"It looks like a very unfortunate accident," Taylor said.

He said his best estimate of the time of the crash is between 6 and 7 a.m. Thursday, though that is preliminary. The car was located between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Friday, and Taylor was dispatched to the scene shortly after that.

Upon arriving on scene, Taylor saw that the vehicle had left the roadway, went over a cliff and broken through the ice on the river.

"It was through the ice and completely submerged," he said, adding that the woman still was in the car when it was pulled up by a large wrecker with a boom on it. He said he believes the accident was "a slow roll" because the car didn't launch far into the river.

Taylor said Friday night that he had not yet measured the distance of the drop, but estimated that the car traveled more than 40 vertical feet after leaving the cliff.

He said that the impact; the fact the car was submerged, making it difficult to exit the vehicle; and the temperature of the icy river made for a deadly combination.

"It's almost one of those unsurvivable crashes," Taylor said.