POWESHIEK COUNTY – Two people were killed and several others were injured in an accident in rural Poweshiek County on Saturday evening.

According to traffic records, at around 5:32pm on Saturday, 18-year-old Andrew Buttler of Freeport, Florida was driving a Jeep Wrangler eastbound on Ewart Road and failed to stop at Highway 63, resulting in a collision with a Jeep Renegade driven by 51-year-old George Wegner of Judsonia, Arkansas. The two vehicles came to a rest in a nearby cornfield.

The two rear passengers in the Wrangler were not wearing seat belts and both were pronounced dead on the scene by authorities. The two rear passengers were identified as 18-year-old Sydney Andersen of Grinnell and 18-year-old Aaliyah Martin of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Andersen was a 2025 graduate of North Mahaska high school.

Four other individuals involved in the accident were reported as injured and transported to the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, including Buttler, Wegner, 18-year-old Martin Contreras of Hinsdale, Florida, and 48-year-old Jessica Atta of Judsonia, Arkansas.

Assisting on the scene were members of the Iowa State Patrol, the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office, Montezuma Fire and Ambulance, the Malcom Fire Department, the East Poweshiek Ambulance Service, the Iowa DoT, Poweshiek County Emergency Management, and the Grinnell Fire Department.

The North Mahaska School District announced that this week’s scheduled activities have been postponed or canceled, with Friday night’s football game to be determined.