CRIME, POLICE + COURTS

Two people killed in road rage crash near Eagle Mountain are identified

Jun 5, 2023, 6:13 AM | Updated: 3:05 pm

the aftermath of the road rage crash in eagle mountain is shown...

Peterson Drew Matheson was charged with two counts of manslaughter following a fatal road rage accident that claimed the lives of two uninvolved individuals.  ( KSL 5 TV)

( KSL 5 TV)

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — Two people killed in a crash on SR-73 near Eagle Mountain have been identified.

In a tweet, the Utah County Sheriff’s office identified the driver and passenger as Rodney Michal Salm of Salt Lake City, age 48, and Michaela Himmelberger of Holladay, age 47. 


Officials said that the two were killed in a crash that began as a road rage.

Sergeant Spencer Cannon said the drivers in a 2016 Ford F-150 pickup truck and a white 2014 Nissan Maxima, the only people in their vehicles, “had been involved in a road rage incident of some kind starting down at the City Center near the rodeo grounds in Eagle Mountain.”

He explained that the two continued their road spat for several miles, up Eagle Mountain Boulevard and onto Highway 73 around 1:30 pm. SR 73 is one of the main highways west of the county west of Utah Lake.

As the two headed eastbound on SR 73, he said the truck sped behind the car, then drove into the shoulder and rammed the car from the side.

Cannon explained that the driver of the car slammed on his brakes, and the driver of the truck “lost control, went across the center line, and crashed head-on into a vehicle that was driving westbound.”

Cannon said the truck crashed into a 1987 Porsche 911 with a man and woman inside, killing them on the scene. He described how the man and woman were part of a local Porsche club driving with several vehicles out for a leisurely Sunday cruise.

The driver “that lost control that was involved in the road rage has been taken to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray with non-life-threatening injuries,” Cannon said.

He will go to jail, Cannon said, likely on multiple charges in the fatal crash. He said he wasn’t sure if the driver of the car would be charged as well.

The names of the two who died haven’t been released.

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Two people killed in road rage crash near Eagle Mountain are identified