BOONE — An Iowa man was killed and two young children were injured, one critically, after his SUV left a city street, traveled through a ditch and slammed head-on into another vehicle Sunday night.
The crash happened at approximately 9:23 p.m. on August 16, 2026, in the 1500 block of South Story Street near Kate Shelley Drive in Boone.
According to the Iowa State Patrol, 45-year-old Joshua Burns of Boone was driving a 2019 Jeep Renegade south on Story Street when the vehicle went over the curb on the west side of the road.
The Jeep traveled down into a ditch before returning to the roadway and entering the northbound lanes, where it collided head-on with a 2020 Ford Edge driven by 27-year-old Jessica Slaton of Madrid.
Burns suffered fatal injuries. The report states that he was wearing a seat belt, but it did not save his life. His body was taken to the medical examiner.
Two children riding in the Ford were injured. A 3-year-old child suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown to an area hospital. A 7-month-old child was transported by Boone Fire and EMS to an area hospital.
Authorities withheld the children’s names and places of residence. Both children were listed as properly restrained, with the crash report crediting their restraints with saving their lives.
Slaton was not listed among the injured in the initial report.
Both SUVs sustained enough damage to require towing from the scene. The State Patrol did not announce what caused Burns to leave the roadway, and the initial report did not identify any citations or criminal charges.
The latest deadly collision occurred about two months after another head-on crash in Boone County killed an Iowa passenger and seriously injured a driver.
Iowa had recorded 183 traffic fatalities during 2026 as of Monday, August 17, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s preliminary daily count. That figure can change as investigations are completed and additional crash-related deaths are reported.