Las Animas Residents Among Victims in Fatal U.S. Highway 50 Rollover Crash

Paula Elaine Kiehl, a 65-year-old Las Animas resident, was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle rollover on U.S. Highway 50 east of La Junta Saturday afternoon, March 14, after the black Toyota Tundra she was riding in left the roadway, crossed the median and went airborne before rolling and coming to rest on its wheels.

The driver, a 62-year-old Las Animas man, was transported to Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. Colorado State Patrol confirmed he was wearing a seatbelt. Kiehl was not, troopers said, though she was not ejected from the vehicle.

The crash unfolded near milepost 386 at approximately 5:01 p.m., when the eastbound Tundra failed to navigate a right curve and drove off the left side of the road into the median. The pickup continued across both westbound lanes and onto the north shoulder, where it drove up a hill, went airborne, struck the ground and rolled one complete time before coming to rest facing northeast, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

La Junta Fire Department crews, called just before 5 p.m., arrived to find the truck off the roadway and both occupants requiring emergency attention.

The Otero County Coroner identified Kiehl by name on March 18. Coroner Robert M. Fowler said her cause of death has not been released pending autopsy results. "That is all the information we are releasing at this point, as this is an ongoing investigation," Fowler wrote.

The Colorado State Patrol is continuing to investigate the crash. No charges or citations have been reported, and no information on speed, weather conditions, or impairment has been released.