Worthington man gets 10 years in fatal Highway 3 crash

A Worthington, Minnesota, man will spend 10 years in prison for driving the wrong way on Iowa Highway 3 and killing Rose Bumsted of Nemaha in a blizzard near the Buena Vista-Cherokee county line.

Jorge Ortega-Ortega, formerly of Cherokee, was sentenced Tuesday in Buena Vista County District Court after a Buena Vista County jury found him guilty in March of homicide by vehicle. Judge Charles Borth imposed the maximum term for the Class C felony, along with a $1,370 fine, a $205 surcharge, $150,000 in restitution to Bumsted’s estate and $17,101.50 to the Iowa Crime Victim Assistance Program. Ortega-Ortega was denied probation but will receive credit for time already served.

The case grew out of the March 19, 2025, crash at about 6:25 a.m. near Highway 3 and County Road M27, about seven miles east of Cherokee. Investigators said Ortega-Ortega was driving westbound in a 2020 Honda Civic when he activated his left turn signal, crossed into the eastbound lane and stayed in the wrong lane for roughly a mile before striking Bumsted’s vehicle. Court testimony described in-car video showing him passing a no-passing sign, drifting across the center and fog lines and remaining in oncoming traffic before the collision.

Bumsted, 65, was taken to Buena Vista Regional Medical Center and died from her injuries. Her obituary says she was born Feb. 7, 1960, had lived in Nemaha and formerly Soldier, graduated salutatorian from Battle Creek Community Schools’ Class of 1978, became a registered nurse in 1980 and worked in emergency room, school nurse, occupational health, hospice and long-term care roles. It describes her as a wife, mother of three and grandmother.

The crash happened during severe winter weather, but prosecutors and investigators concluded it was more than a brief mistake in near-whiteout conditions. National Weather Service reports said northwest Iowa was under blizzard conditions that morning, with heavy snow and northwest wind gusts of roughly 45 to 65 mph, including a 63 mph gust at Storm Lake Airport, and travel was not advised. A separate summary said dangerous travel conditions stretched across a wide corridor from Kansas and Nebraska through Iowa into Wisconsin.

Ortega-Ortega was hospitalized in Sioux Falls after the crash and initially pleaded not guilty in June 2025. After a three-day trial in Storm Lake, jurors returned their verdict on March 12, 2026. The sentence closes a case that turned a Highway 3 collision into a felony homicide conviction, and it sends a clear message on one of Buena Vista County’s busiest rural corridors: wrong-way driving in storm conditions can carry criminal consequences as severe as the loss it causes.