N.D. auto wreck kills two Valley men

NEAR MISSION — A father and son from rural Mission died after they were thrown from their pickup truck in a rollover crash along a western North Dakota highway.

The wreck occurred about 5:15 a.m. Wednesday along U.S. Highway 2 near Stanley, N.D., about 50 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a statement.

Juan Escojido, 57, was driving a 2004 Ford F-250 when icy conditions caused him to lose control of the vehicle, state troopers reported. The truck rolled several times and came to rest on the north side of the four-lane highway.

Escojido and his 30-year-old son Felipe were thrown from the vehicle. Public records show both men lived at the same house north of Mission.

"It’s just very hard, very painful," a woman at the house said Thursday afternoon. She refused to identify herself or provide further details.

Troopers said neither man was wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash. The two men were headed from Blaisdell, N.D., to a gas plant about 90 miles southwest of there early Wednesday morning.

Felipe Escojido died along the icy highway, troopers said. Juan Escojido was taken to the hospital in Stanley, N.D., where he later died from his injuries.

The Escojidos’ fatal rollover came during an early blast of wintry weather across North Dakota. The ice and snow storm left dozens of vehicles stuck in ditches across the state and caused widespread power outages.

Funeral services for the two Escojido men are being handled by Rivera Funeral Home in McAllen.