The Pine County Sheriff's Office has released the name of the driver who died after he was found in a ditch two and a half miles from a rollover crash he was involved in.
Authorities were called to the intersection of Highway 23 and Banning Park Rd around 3:06 a.m. on Tuesday, January 1. There they found a vehicle registered to 54-year-old Victor Lee Bowen unoccupied with tracks leading back to the roadway. The deputy was unable to determine the direction of travel from the tracks.
Attempts by the Deputy to contact Bowen were unsuccessful.
Hours later, the Sheriff's Office received a report of a body in the ditch near the intersection of State Hwy 23 and State Hwy 123. The individual was later identified to be Bowen.
He was found extremely cold and unresponsive but still breathing. Bowen was then transported by ambulance to Essentia Health in Sandstone where he was pronounced dead at 10:42 a.m.
The Pine County Sheriff's Office believes that Bowen's death to be cold weather related.
