SALT LAKE CITY — A missionary from Ely, Nevada and another from Riverton, Utah were killed Tuesday while serving for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in North Dakota.
Elder Robert "Tommy" Gardner, 20, from Riverton and Elder Jacob Aaron Kesler, 20, from Ely, were both serving in the North Dakota Bismarck Mission when they were killed.
Church leadership said the young men were traveling on a highway near Beulah when they crashed into a semi-truck that had stopped due to an accident.
Officials with the North Dakota Highway Patrol detailed that the young men, who were the only occupants in a Volkswagen Tiguan, did not see the stopped semi-truck in the road and rear-ended it, resulting in fatal injuries.
Both missionaries were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, Highway Patrol reported.
Kesler began his missionary service in July 2022 and Gardner had been serving in the area since November 2022.
Church leadership expressed their condolences to family and friends of Gardner and Kesler as well as fellow missionaries in the area, saying in part, "We pray they will each be comforted and feel peace during this tragic time."
The crash is under investigation by the local highway patrol.
