The Blaine County Sheriff's Office is investigating the puzzling circumstances leading to a fatal single-vehicle crash late Friday night that claimed the life of Gary Hunt, an owner of Iconoclast Books in Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Hunt, 46, died at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning while being moved by emergency helicopter from St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center to a trauma center in Boise.
Blaine County Coroner Russell Mikel said Monday that Hunt died from "multiple trauma to the abdomen and chest." Mikel said he is awaiting blood work before he can make a determination as to why Hunt lost control of the vehicle he was driving around midnight Friday on state Highway 75 about a mile north of East Fork Road, south of Ketchum.
Hunt's body was being kept Monday at Wood River Chapel in Hailey. Mikel said it had not yet been determined if an autopsy would be conducted.
The sheriff's office reported Monday that it is uncertain if alcohol was a factor in the accident, although there were reports of Hunt's vehicle "being driven erratically" in the Ketchum area and near Ohio Gulch Road shortly before the accident.
Sheriff's Capt. Ed Fuller said Hunt was northbound on the highway in a silver-and-gray 2003 GMC Yukon when the vehicle crossed the center line and the southbound lane, drove along the west shoulder for about 300 feet, collided with a "three-pole fence" in two places and came to rest in a pasture west of the highway.
Fuller said Hunt was found in the driver's seat, slumped over onto the passenger side.
"He was still breathing at the time officers were there," Fuller said.
Hunt was transported by Ketchum Fire Department ambulance to St. Luke's, where he was taken to surgery in an attempt to stabilize his condition.
Ketchum Fire Chief Mike Elle reported that there was "significant intrusion into the vehicle by fence parts. We extricated him and rapidly transported him."
Fuller said there were no skid marks at the accident scene, but declined to speculate as to why Hunt's vehicle left the roadway.
"I don't have a conclusion one way or the other what could have caused it," Fuller said. "It's still under investigation and we're still looking at it."
Hunt, along with his wife, Sarah Hedrick, was the owner of Iconoclast Books in Ketchum and Sun Valley. Well known in the Wood River Valley, he left behind a 2-year-old daughter and three stepchildren.
