Driver killed in Bogus Basin Road rollover crash ID’d as longtime Eagle resident
The Boise County Coroner’s Office identified the man who died when his truck went off the side of Bogus Basin Road on Dec. 22 as a longtime Eagle resident.
William Wegener, 71, died from blunt-force trauma after being thrown from his Toyota pickup when it left the roadway on his way to the Bogus Basin ski area, overturning down a steep hillside, Boise County Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Johnson told the Idaho Statesman on Monday. Wegener was not wearing his seat belt, Idaho State Police reported.
Wegener is thought to have been driving north to Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area to ski when the crash occurred between 8:30 and 9:45 a.m., Johnson said. When he didn’t check in around lunchtime, family reported Wegener not answering his phone and missing.
State police found Wegener’s truck just before 8 p.m. about 300 feet down a ravine near the Boise-Ada County line, about 7 miles south of the ski area. He died at the scene, and Idaho Mountain Search & Rescue responded to help collect Wegener’s remains.
Police continue to investigate the crash, and it is unknown at this time if speed or weather conditions along the winding roadway played a factor, Idaho State Police Patrol Lt. Sam Ketchum said by phone Monday. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, nor anyone else injured.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever really know the true reason for the crash. There were no witnesses to when it happened,” Ketchum said.
An autopsy with toxicology screening was conducted as a standard procedure for all fatal single-vehicle crashes. The results of that report are not expected to be finished for several weeks, Ketchum said.
Attempts by a Statesman reporter to reach Wegener’s family were unsuccessful Monday.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 1:18 PM.
