All 29 dogs, 2 mushers survive unharmed icy South Dakota crash

Dec. 29—MONTROSE, S.D. — Immediately after the crash, Jana Roberts saw the wreckage and thought all of her dogs were dead.

"That's what will haunt me," she said Friday morning, Dec. 29.

But relax, this is a happy tale. No dogs were injured in the making of this story.

Jana Roberts and her husband Ryan, of Wetmore, Michigan, are dog mushers. On the night of Wednesday, Dec. 27, they were driving across South Dakota on their way to a dog sled race in Wyoming when their vehicle hit a patch of black ice on a bridge near Montrose.

"The crash site looked like those pictures you see after a tornado goes through," Ryan said. "The trailer was in pieces everywhere."

Their pickup has been totaled and the remains of their fifth-wheel now rest in a pile. Somehow, stunningly, their 29 dogs that were traveling along were not injured. And Jana and Ryan say the local support they've received to help navigate through a horrible situation has been absolutely overwhelming.

Jana, 37, held onto a leash attached to Finn, the dog that got her into mushing, Friday morning at Paul Jerke's place, just off Highway 38, east of Mitchell.

Twenty-seven other dogs were hanging out in a garage nearby as Ryan, 52, warmed up a car about to head back to the crash site in McCook County.

As of Friday afternoon, Jana and Ryan were still missing one dog. It was spotted Thursday, and again earlier Friday morning, but it was acting timid following the crash and has run off each time someone approached it. Still, they know the missing piece to the dog sled team is somewhere nearby and, by all accounts, seems to be OK.

The couple got into dog mushing in 2020. It was a lifelong dream for Jana, she said, after watching the 1994 movie "Iron Will," based loosely on a true story of a dogsled team and a marathon race.

In their first two years, Jana and Ryan traveled to races in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon. During that time, their dog team grew, and they decided in May this year to move to the upper peninsula of Michigan.

"We set ourselves up in the middle of the Hiawatha National Forest with access to trails all around us," Jana said.

A weird weather Christmas this year, though, sent Jana and Ryan on a trip out west. No snow meant they had to travel to Wyoming to compete in a race, and the navigation route sent them through South Dakota, where rain, snow and ice had fallen earlier in the week to create slippery driving conditions. Their hope was to get to Kimball, S.D., late Wednesday night to pause from their commute, but they never made it.

Paul Jerke, owner of Paul's Towing, said it was by chance he received the call to help out after the crash.

He's been in the towing business for years, and the bottom of the hill near Mile Marker 374 has always been problematic.

"So every time we get a call out there, the hair stands up on the back of your neck," Jerke said.

It was called in as a rollover, and upon arrival at the scene, Jerke said he saw items scattered all over the north ditch.

For their travels, Jana made dog crate boxes and built them into their trailer. Immediately following the crash, which occurred at about 10:30 p.m., 21 dogs remained in their boxes and six were on the loose. Two dogs were riding in the pickup for the trip.

Standing in Jerke's shop alongside the dog crates, Ryan noted the craftsmanship of the boxes and Jana's work.

"They held up pretty good," he said.

So did the rest of their personal belongings. Not much was lost, camping gear, dog food, even their sleds — it was all there and all intact.

"Getting down there, figuring who is who and what's what, you're just trying to figure out how we can help," Jerke said. "We have dogs stuck in kennels, we have dogs stuck under debris from the rolled camper and dogs running everywhere."

It was an emotional scene, Jerke said. It was also the moment he realized Jana and Ryan would need more help than a typical crash site.

So he and his crew got to work and helped pick up anything and everything. The scene was also a good reminder, Paul said, for people to know they need to slow down and move over for anyone who is going through a wreck.

"That's for us, police, fire, EMS, snowplows," Jerke said. "Let us get to work."

Jerke provided a bus the night of the crash to help transport dogs and personal items, and Jana, Ryan and the dog team stayed at Jerke's place. Jerke also allowed the use of a vehicle and helped arrange a camper for them and their dogs when they're able to head back home.

Before they left the crash site in the early morning hours Thursday, law enforcement officers helped Jana and Ryan locate four of the six dogs that had escaped from the crates.

Notably, Jana pointed to the work of McCook County canine officer Tim Simmermon. She said Simmermon was responsible for finding four dogs the night of the crash.

"Once we had a count of how many dogs were missing, I just informed the other deputy up the road how many dogs were still missing," Simmermon recalled Friday. "Then we just stayed in contact with the owners — she would hop in my vehicle if someone saw one of the dogs. Then we drove around and started looking. We pretty much knew any of the dogs were not going to come to any first responder, so the owners had to be there."

Trying to find dogs in the dark was an uphill battle, but they located all but two, both young pups seemingly scared from the crash. The lead dog for Jana's team was located multiple miles away.

Simmermon left the scene around 1:30 a.m.

Jana and Ryan returned Thursday to "capture the elusive children," aka the last two missing dogs. Ten-plus miles of walking and mistakenly following coyote trails, they eventually found and obtained the young female. Local residents were out looking, and some of them helped set a missy trap, a humane way to capture dogs, in hopes to get the lost young male.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, when this story went to press, Jana and Ryan were still trying to find the final dog named Griffin. They found a trail they were certain belonged to him and they moved the trap to that location.

They planned to stay with nearby residents in Montrose for a day or so in case anyone located or spotted Griffin, who looks like a young yellow lab with a white face. Jana asks if you see him to call the McCook County sheriff's office at 605-425-2761 and do not approach the dog.

"This is one of the most tragic things I've ever been through," Jana said, "but so many people here have been wonderful."

Added Ryan, "It's the grace of God. We're thankful for the community here."