Otter Tail County crash kills 18-year-old, another person arrested

A late-night crash in Bluffton Township left 18-year-old Blake Unger dead and led to the arrest of 18-year-old Izak Schermerhorn, turning a rural Otter Tail County wreck into a criminal case with charges that included vehicular homicide and drunken driving.

Dispatch received the crash report about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, near 370th Street and 640th Avenue, northwest of Wadena. Deputies found a truck on its side in a ditch near the intersection, and Unger was found outside the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. The location, in a stretch of countryside that links Bluffton Township and the Wadena area, put the fatal wreck squarely in a part of the county where neighbors, schools and families often overlap.

Schermerhorn, of New York Mills, was arrested after the crash and later faced criminal vehicular homicide, fourth-degree DWI and underage drinking-and-driving charges. Court and law enforcement reports said he admitted to drinking and driving, and a preliminary breath test measured his blood alcohol content at 0.103%. The case moved beyond the initial arrest as investigators reviewed the evidence and prosecutors pursued charges tied to what happened on the road that night.

Unger, who lived in Bluffton, had graduated from New York Mills High School just days before the crash, on Friday, May 23. He was described as a three-sport athlete and a member of the New York Mills baseball team, details that underscored how widely the loss was felt in the school community as well as in Otter Tail County. For classmates, coaches and families in Bluffton and New York Mills, the crash meant the end of a graduation week that should have carried celebration instead of grief.

Later court reporting said Schermerhorn pleaded guilty in Otter Tail County District Court in connection with the fatal crash. The case now stands as a stark reminder of how quickly a single-vehicle wreck on a county road can become a death investigation, an alcohol-related prosecution and a lasting wound for two small towns connected by the same roads.