Investigators still looking into tragic Hall accident

Hungry Horse News

Investigators are still looking into why Flathead County Commissioner Gary Hall's daughter died after she hit a deer with her sports utility vehicle last Thursday, but so far an autopsy has found that a giant rush of adrenaline went to her heart.

Rebekah Jayne Hall Nielsen, 24, of Kalispell, was northbound on U.S. Highway 93 north of Rollins when the 2002 Buick Rendezvous she was driving hit a deer about 9 p.m.

According to Montana Highway Patrolman Dustin LeRette, the airbags deployed and her vehicle went to the side of the road. Nielsen also had her seat belt on.

A Kalispell firefighter who happened to be in the area came to her aid. Lake and Flathead county sheriff's offices, the Rollins fire department, Polson ambulance, Lakeside Quick Response Unit, Montana Highway Patrol and the ALERT helicopter then all responded.

Hall said his daughter was found slumped over the console and was unresponsive.

The firefighter gave her CPR immediately, but there were no signs of outward trauma.

LeRette said there wasn't much damage to the vehicle, and the deer did not go through the windshield.

Hall said the initial autopsy reports from doctors in Missoula show a huge rush of adrenaline to her heart, which may have stopped her heart, but they were still going to do more tests on her heart itself.

The family is just trying to deal with the tragedy.

"God's grace has surrounded us, and we're doing better," Hall said Monday.

"Our hearts, our prayers and our thoughts go out to Gary's family at this time of such enormous tragedy," said county commissioner Joe Brenneman. "This is the sort of thing that numbs the soul."

Nielsen is immediately survived by her husband Brandon and two children, Elijah Scott, 2 years old, and Ella Jayne, 10 months, as well as Hall and his wife, Jayne.

She was a full-time mom raising her children.

The family suggests memorials be made to the Eli and Ella Nielsen education fund at Freedom Bank, P.O. Box 2076, Columbia Falls MT 59912.

A full obituary appears in this newspaper.