UPDATE:
Sheldon, Iowa — The driver of the Chevy that rolled north of Sheldon on Wednesday evening has come forward. Law enforcement officers were unable to find any occupants of the vehicle Wednesday evening. They stated that blood was found both inside and around the vehicle.
On Thursday evening, the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office updated their report. The deputy who wrote the report tells us that on Thursday, the driver, who is now identified as 36-year-old Ramiro Alvarez Lopez of Sibley, presented himself to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to report the crash. They tell us the driver stated that he had a passenger with him and that after the crash they got out of the vehicle in search of help. The driver stated he and the passenger got separated and he wasn’t sure where his passenger was.
The passenger was thought to have been spotted near the intersection of 260th Street and Iowa 60 around 6:00 a.m. (near Poet Biorefining) but when officers arrived, no one was there. Later that day the passenger was located walking along Iowa 60 near Ashton around 12:00 noon and was taken by private vehicle to the hospital. The extent of the passenger’s injury is unknown.
The passenger is not suspected of committing a crime and no charges related to the accident are expected to be filed against the passenger, according to the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office.
However, they tell us Alvarez Lopez did not have a valid driver’s license and told Osceola County Deputies that he was “speeding,” went over the bridge just north of the accident location, and lost control, entering the west ditch, rolling three times, and coming to a rest in the bean field. They say traffic charges against the driver (Alvarez Lopez) are pending.
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Original story posted Sep 22, 2022 at 1:23 p.m.
Sheldon, Iowa — The O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office has a mystery of sorts to unravel after a crashed car was found near Sheldon on Wednesday evening, September 21, 2022.
The O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office reports that a deputy was dispatched at 7:20 p.m. to the site where the car was found. It is thought that someone was driving the 2009 Chevy southbound on Nettle Avenue, two and a half miles north of the east end of Sheldon when it entered the west ditch and smashed through a barbed wire fence, entering a soybean field where it began to roll. The deputy says it is unclear how many times the car rolled. When officers arrived, there were no occupants in or around the vehicle. Blood was located in and around the vehicle and a search for occupants was conducted.
When no occupants could be found, the vehicle was towed out of the field.
The Chevy Aveo was totaled in the accident, receiving an estimated $10,000 in damages. The barbed wire fence received $500 in damage and the soybeans received $1500 in damages. Both the fence and bean plants were owned by Dale Zoet of Sheldon.
If you have any information about the accident, you can call the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office at 712-957-3415.
