Granite Falls woman dies in Montana accident

BILLINGS — A 20-year-old woman from Granite Falls died from injuries suffered in a car crash Sunday east of Billings, Mont.

Lindsey Berry, who was known in Granite Falls as Lindsey Sannon, was driving east near Hardin, Mont., Sunday afternoon when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed, Montana Highway Patrol Capt. Keith Edgell said Wednesday.

The vehicle went into the median, before rolling and coming to rest in the westbound lane. Lindsey and her sister, Taylor Berry, 18, were ejected from the car.

Lindsey Berry was kept on life support until family arrived, Edgell said. Montana Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. No other vehicles were involved.

Taylor Berry, who also grew up in Granite Falls, has been released from the hospital. She is recovering and in grief, said Morgan Moliter, a family friend who has known the sisters about six years.

“She lost her best friend,” Moliter said.

Lindsey Berry had been a nursing student at Montana State University in Bozeman, but university officials said Wednesday she had no longer been attending.

While attending Granite Falls High School, Lindsey Berry played basketball and ran cross country. She was an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, based in Lame Deer, Mont.

A memorial for Lindsey Berry is planned in Montana on Friday, Moliter said. Family and friends are heading that way.

Another family friend, Melinda Napeahi of Marysville, is helping Taylor Berry plan a local ceremony for her sister.

She said the surviving sister is strong but reeling from her loss. Napeahi rarely saw one sister without the other in tow.

“She knows her sister is gone. … She doesn’t know if she can make it through without her,” Napeahi said.

Napeahi said she will miss her friend, and finds it difficult to accept that she’s gone.

“She was a great person,” she said. “It was never boring when she was around. … I love her. I miss her. It’s still unreal.”

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com