Pick up truck apparently pulling a livestock trailer erupted in frames mid-drive, no explosion until after the flames, no accident. An 8 y/o girl in the truck, a friend of the family, was the only casualty.

 

Russ Little was following behind his adult daughter, her husband, and the girl who was a friend of the family. Little saw flames beneath their pickup. He sped up next to them, warned them to pull over, but as the adults opened both doors, the cab exploded with young Kynzlee Luthy inside in the back sear. They tried to save her, but the heat was “like sticking your face in a blowtorch.”

 

Little said there was no crash, no plume of smoke and almost no warning before an explosion engulfed the cab with 8-year-old Kynzlee Rae Luthy still inside.

 

"Lacie opened her door. Addison opened his."

 

"Then, Little said, the truck exploded."

 

“This happened over the space of seconds,” he said.

 

Lacie was blown over the guardrail and down the hill.

 

Behind him, flames shot higher than the livestock trailer the pickup was towing, Little said. From his vantage point, the fire appeared concentrated around the cab.

 

Kynzlee was still in the back seat.

 

Addison immediately went back for her.

 

“It was like sticking your face in a blowtorch, it was that hot,” Little said.

 

Little tried, too.

 

He said the heat became so intense as he approached the truck that he could feel the skin on his arms and face beginning to melt.

 

There was no way to reach her. Little said he knew then that anyone still inside the burning pickup was already gone.

 

Kynzlee, of Hibbard, Idaho, died at the scene.

 

Addison was flown by helicopter to a burn unit in Idaho Falls, Little said, where he underwent skin grafts. He is expected to recover.

 

Not A Crash

 

Little is adamant that what he witnessed wasn't a collision.

 

“It was not a crash. It was not an accident,” he said.

 

“It’s been reported that it was an overheated truck and it was fire,” Little said, but he believes that description gives people the wrong impression.

 

Idaho State Police previously reported the Chevrolet was near the top of Ashton Hill at about 5:23 p.m. Oct. 9 when it overheated and caught fire.

 

“The explosion more or less took place inside the cab for unknown reasons,” Little said.

 

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Idaho State Police for clarification about what investigators believe caused the fire and why the incident was initially described as a crash, but did not receive a response.

 

In earlier reporting, another witness, Sabrina Wilson Birch, said she first spotted smoke in the distance. As she got closer, she said a line of about 20 vehicles, black smoke and horses along the highway became visible.

 

____

 

The deceassed girl's paremts were not presemt.

 

Kynzlee's parents, Rachel and Russ Luthy, were not in the pickup.

 

She was traveling with people her obituary calls her “bonus family” — the Russ and Margo Little family.

 

Little said his family had known Kynzlee since she was about 3 months old.

 

They started helping care for her when a babysitter was needed. Over the years, Little said, she became a part of their family.

 

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/10/13/family-describes-efforts-to-save-idaho-girl-in-fiery-truck-driven-by-ex-wyoming-man/