MADISON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) troopers are sharing more information about a Friday night Madison County crash that killed two people and, according to sources, may have involved Ryan Houston, a man on the run from authorities since Thursday night.
I think it’s very sad because he had just retired and he was well known in his community and nobody expects that to happen especially your loved one,” Vicky Michau-Ceron said.
Vicky and her husband, Jordy, along with their three children were driving home from Jordy’s sister house on Saturday morning when they witnessed the aftermath of the head-on collision just before 1 a.m.
“I saw police, fire fighters and I saw two cars that were burned and both sides of the highway were closed,” Vicky, translating for Jordy, said.
Sgt. Phillip Morgan with the NCSHP said a stolen vehicle, a 2019 Jaguar, collided with a Ford pickup truck around mile marker 11 on I-26 westbound.
The Madison County and Yancey County communities are mourning the loss of Mike Boone, 54, who was struck and killed by a driver just two days after retiring following 32 years in law enforcement.
Boone, who retired as chief of Marshall Police Department on Aug. 1 after serving 10 years as chief, was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 26 near Exit 11 for Mars Hill just before 11 p.m. Aug. 2, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol confirmed.
Boone was leaving Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Enka campus, where he was cross-sworn and still worked part time as a law enforcement officer, and heading to his home in Yancey County, where he lives with his wife, Jennifer.
According to Sgt. P.J. Morgan with the N.C. Highway Patrol, a driver operating a 2019 Jaguar, which is being investigated as a report of a stolen vehicle by the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, was traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of I-26 when it collided head-on with Boone, who was driving his Ford pickup truck.
The driver of the 2019 Jaguar, whose identification has not been released, also died.
“After the initial impact, both vehicles were consumed in fire for about five to 10 minutes, prior to the fire department getting on the scene and controlling the fire,” Morgan said.
As for identifying the driver of the Jaguar, “We’re waiting on the medical examiners, who are going to have to do a forensic examination on him,” Morgan said, adding that the process typically takes anywhere from one to two weeks.
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