Hit-and-run driver who killed Wasilla man arrested in Iowa

LIVINGSTON, MONT. — A man was arrested Thursday night near Grundy Center, Iowa, in the death of a Wasilla man last year.

Carol Bedford, 73, said her husband, Elgie Bedford, 81, was making his annual trek to the Paris, Texas, area where his children and other extended family live when he was killed while walking in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 in Montana.

Based on the timeline established in charging documents, Bedford was struck around 3 a.m., Sept. 30, 2013, but the incident wasn’t reported to Montana Highway Patrol until 7 a.m. that morning.

Sweet Grass County Sheriff Dan Tronrud said David Welk of St. Cloud, Minn., is the third person arrested during a four-month investigation into Bedford’s death that has stretched from Alaska to Wyoming, Washington, Ohio, Iowa and beyond.

“It took us a long time to get this one figured,” Tronrud said by phone from Montana Friday.

He said it was a call from Welk’s co-driver that eventually led to his arrest. Michael Karls of Arizona contacted Carol Bedford, the Sweet Grass County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol to tell his version of what happened that day on Interstate 90.

Trooper Joe Hensley of the Montana Highway Patrol recounts Karls’ version of events in an affidavit filed with felony charges against Welk for failing to remain at the scene until he had fulfilled his responsibilities under Montana law for “accidents involving another person or a deceased person.”

About a month after the incident, another trooper received a call from Karls saying he was the co-driver in a semi that hit Bedford.

In an Oct. 25, 2013, call to Trooper Bill Bullock, Karls told the trooper he and Welk were long-haul truck drivers and he had been in the sleeper cab of the semi during the impact, but said he heard and felt the collision.

When Karls asked Welk what happened, he said Welk replied, “I just hit someone,” according to the affidavit.

Perhaps, though, it had been a bear instead. So Welk stopped the truck on the road, and the two men walked to the area of the impact on the truck to see what was hit. Finding only damage to the truck’s headlight, the men got back in the truck and returned to Mile 376.5, the affidavit says.

As they neared the location, Karls says he saw a bunch of clothing in the passing lane. Welk stopped the truck, opened the driver’s door and used a flashlight to look outside. He told Karls it was just some clothing and a duffle bag, the affidavit says.

“Welk did not seem to be the same after that incident and acted very nervous and upset,” Karls says in the affidavit.

But Karls says he was uneasy and did an Internet search. That’s when he learned it was Bedford the 2013 Freightliner had struck and killed.

Sheriff Tronrud said they’ve known for some time that a semi was first to strike Bedford, but figuring out which company and which truck and who was driving took some time. When Ohio State Trooper Phip Vongsy seized they truck at Truck Stops of American in Eaton, Ohio, Welk was with the truck. Vongsy asked him about the crash in Montana, according to the affidavit.

Welk told the trooper he hit a deer. The affidavit says he also told repair personnel for the company that owned the truck he hit a hawk and knocked out the headlight.

Tronrud said a warrant was issued for Welk’s arrest and Iowa State Patrol took him into custody Thursday night near Grundy Center, Iowa. Welk went in front of an Iowa judge Friday and waived his extradition rights.

Tronrud said officers from Montana will travel to Iowa to bring Welk back to Montana to face the charge against him.

In November, Wryan Young, 31, of Oak Harbor, Wash., and her father, Westley Young, 50, also were charged in the Wasilla man’s death.

Wryan faces felony charges for failing to remain at the scene of a fatal accident and for tampering with evidence. Westley L. Young faces a felony evidence tampering charge for assisting his daughter in concealing evidence of the hit and run, according to an affidavit filed with the charges against the Youngs.

“I’m glad they found ’em, charged ’em and now they have time to think about it,” Carol Bedford said. “I’d like them to understand what they did was take a human life and ignore it.”

Under Montana law, drivers in hit-and-run accidents face prison time of one to 10 years, and also may include a fine not to exceed $50,000.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.