GREAT FALLS — Two people died and two others were injured in a two-vehicle collision in Lewis & Clark County on Sunday, January 4, 2026.
It happened about 11 miles east of Lincoln, near mile marker 84 of Montana Highway 200, at about 9:45 a.m.
The vehicles involved were a Ram 1500 with four occupants, all from Wolf Point; all four escaped with no serious injuries. The second vehicle was a Kia Telluride with four occupants.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol, the pickup truck was eastbound and the driver tried to negotiate a right turn and slid into oncoming traffic. It collided with the Kia, and both vehicles went off the side of the road.
Two deputy coroners were dispatched and arrived at the scene at about 11:30 a.m. Two of the occupants of the Kia died at the scene.
Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Dutton identified the two as Michael Smith, age 68, and Josy McLean, age 60; both were from Great Falls. Both were taken to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for autopsy.
The other two occupants of the Kia were taken to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula; the nature and severity of their injuries has not been disclosed. According to the MHP, the two people who were injured are a 43-year old woman from Belt, and a 65-year old woman from Great Falls.
The MHP crash report, which was released on Tuesday evening, says that all occupants of both vehicles were wearing seatbelts, and that alcohol and/or drugs were not factors.
CMR High School shared the following message on Facebook:
Mrs. McLean was a lovely, kind, and vibrant human being who taught biology at CMR for 28 years. She earned every teacher accolade we have at CMR including the Dufresne, the Doctor of Service, and multiple Teacher of the Year awards.
Josy loved science, nature, hiking, her golden retrievers, her Glacier gals, her colleagues and friends, her son Jayse and his wife Mickenze, her husband Mike, and her two beautiful grandbabies Graham and Ella. Josy’s son Jayse and her husband, Mike, are also Rustlers. Jayse graduated from CMR in 2014, and Mike taught math with us for most of his career. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their family and to all of you who may be hurting tonight and in the coming days. Josy was quite simply one of the best.
No other details have been released at this point. We will update you if we get more information.
NOTE: The news release from Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton stated that one of the victims was 60-year old Josh McLean; Sheriff Dutton sent a clarification a short time later stating that the victim's first name is actually Josy. In addition, Sheriff Dutton initially stated that the crash happened on Saturday; it actually happened on Sunday.
