On January 15, 2025, at 10:50 am, Portage la Prairie RCMP received a report of a three-vehicle collision on Highway 26, located approximately three kilometres east of Portage la Prairie.
RCMP officers from Portage la Prairie, along with EMS and the local fire department, attended the scene.
The preliminary investigation has discovered that a pickup truck, travelling westbound on Highway 26, veered over the centre line causing an eastbound pickup truck to take evasive action to prevent a collision. The westbound pickup truck, after having missed the eastbound pickup, then entered the ditch and rolled. The eastbound pickup truck then collided with a westbound SUV.
The driver of the westbound pickup truck was able to free himself from his vehicle where he then was picked up by a passing motorist and dropped off at a nearby gas station. The pickup truck he was driving was later confirmed stolen out of Arborg.
The 28-year-old female driver of the westbound SUV, from High Bluff, was pronounced deceased on scene. The 21-year-old male driver of the eastbound pickup truck, from the RM of Portage la Prairie, was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The motorist who had picked up the driver of the pickup earlier, returned to the scene and advised officers of where he had dropped him off. Investigators were able to quickly determine that the driver was then picked up by a cab and believed to be heading to Winnipeg.
Officers with the Headingley RCMP Detachment contacted the cab driver who advised that the suspect had been dropped off near a motel on Highway 1 in Headingley, where he fled on foot. Patrols made in the area led to the arrest of the suspect who was taken into custody without incident.
RCMP have charged James Lorne Hilton, 24, from the RM of St Andrews, with a number of offences including Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle Causing Death, Operation while Impaired and Failure to Stop after Accident resulting in Death. He was remanded into custody.
Portage la Prairie RCMP, along with a Forensic Collision Reconstructionist, continue to investigate.
