A quiet stretch of highway in Kathio Township turned into the scene of devastating loss Wednesday evening when four people were killed and another critically injured in a violent head-on collision. The crash happened shortly before 7 p.m. on February 25 along Highway 169, about two miles south of Grand Casino Mille Lacs near Shakopee Lake Road.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a 21-year-old woman from Isle was driving northbound in a Buick when she crossed the center line and collided with a southbound Saab carrying four people. The impact was catastrophic. There was only one person in the Buick and four occupants in the Saab at the time of the crash.
Authorities confirmed four fatalities and one person suffering life-threatening injuries. The three people killed in the Saab were identified by family as Christopher Andrew Boswell, 41, of Onamia; James Ortley, 51, of Minneapolis; and his wife, Michelle Rock, 53, also of Minneapolis. The news was shared publicly by Boswell’s brother, Keith Boswell, as loved ones began grappling with the heartbreaking loss.
The lone survivor from the Saab, Jessica Mitchell, 25, of Onamia, was airlifted to a hospital in St. Cloud, where she remains in critical condition. Officials have not yet released the condition of the Buick driver. The crash has deeply shaken families across central Minnesota, especially in communities near Lake Mille Lacs.
This tragedy marks the deadliest roadway incident in Minnesota since June 2023, when five young women were killed on East Lake Street in Minneapolis by a speeding driver who had just exited Interstate 35W. That driver, Derrick Thompson, is now serving a 59-year prison sentence after being convicted of multiple counts of murder and criminal vehicular homicide.
The crash also comes just one day after another deadly head-on collision on the same two-lane stretch of Highway 169, where snowy and icy conditions contributed to a fatal wreck near 460th Street. As investigators continue working to determine what led to Wednesday’s crash, communities across Minnesota are mourning yet another heartbreaking loss on a roadway that has seen too much tragedy.
