Julia Renee Zimmerman, 20, of Sturgis was killed in a three-vehicle crash on Friday, June 26 in Mendon Township, according to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department.

On Friday morning at approximately 11:40 a.m., Zimmerman and her boyfriend Carlos Montoya, 22, also of Sturgis, were traveling southbound on Silver Street near Hampton Road in two separate vehicles, with Montoya in a Jeep Wrangler and Zimmerman trailing Montoya in a passenger car.

A wheel came off Montoya’s Jeep and entered the northbound lane causing a northbound box truck driven by Michael Butcher, 58, of Plainwell, causing Butcher to lose control and cross into oncoming traffic. The box truck struck Zimmerman’s vehicle, who was killed in the collision and pronounced dead at the scene.

According to authorities, Montoya was uninjured and Butcher was treated on scene and later released by LifeCare Ambulance.  

Deputies were assisted on scene by the Michigan State Police, Mendon Fire Department, LifeCare Ambulance, South County Fire Department, and Brokers Towing. The crash remains under investigation.

Alek Haak-Frost is executive editor of Watershed Voice.