A forensic dentist has verified the identity of a Colorado man killed in a head-on crash on Wyoming Highway 230 about 15 miles southwest of Laramie on Jan. 31.

Mitchell D. Foust, 19, of Grand Junction, Colo. had to be identified through dental records due to the fire that engulfed his vehicle.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol says in a press release that Foust was driving a 1998 Nissan Frontier westbound on WY 230 at 3:05 p.m. and crossed into the eastbound lane at a right-hand curve in the highway near milepost 17.

Cheyenne resident Stephen Harvicks, 34, was eastbound in a 2013 Freightliner commercial truck hauling a tanker of crude oil when he saw the Nissan cross into his lane.

Patrol Lieutenant Mike Simmons says Harvicks tried to avoid the Nissan by veering left into the westbound lane. At that instant, Foust corrected back into the westbound lane and collided head-on with the commercial truck.

Both vehicles ended up in the north barrow ditch and immediately caught fire. Foust died at the scene.

Harvicks escaped the cab of the Freightliner uninjured, and the fire was contained before flames could reach the trailer of crude oil.

The Patrol says both men were wearing their seatbelts and conditions were dry at the time of the crash. Driver inattention is being examined as a contributing factor.

The crash resulted in Wyoming’s sixth highway fatality this year and temporarily closed WY 230.

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