Nebraska
EXCLUSIVE: Rural Nebraska crash victims say the same man was waiting for them after separate wrecks
BENNINGTON, Neb. (WOWT) – A frightening mystery has played out along a busy highway in northern Douglas County, Neb. It’s happened at night — and it’s happened more than once.
Cresting a hill while traveling on Highway 36 in the dark, Garrison Beach faced a driver’s worst nightmare Sunday night.
“I didn’t want to [crash] head-on into a big piece of metal in the middle of the road going 55-60 miles per hour, so I just tried to swerve out of the way,” Garrison Beach said.
But he overcorrected, and his Toyota Camry barreled through a wire guardrail and down a ravine, with his wife Skylar Beach riding it out in the passenger’s seat.
“It was pretty scary,” Skylar said. “I remember screaming and I wasn’t sure when we’d start rolling, but we were fortunate to walk away from the accident.”
The crash wouldn’t be the couple’s only shock of the evening, though.
Startled as they fast-approached the object in the road, they looked over and noticed a vehicle parked on 132nd Street with the headlight on, as if someone was keeping watch on the intersection.
“As soon as we got out of the car, I remember walking up the embankment and this guy showed up,” Garrison said. “He was already there, like, waiting for us up on the side of the road and [said], ‘Are you guys okay? I’ve called the paramedics already.‘”
Garrison says they declined the strangers offer to get in his car.
“It was just very odd,” Skylar Beach said. “As soon as we said, ‘No, we’re going to wait for the police,’ he kind of just walked back to his car.”
The man left before they got his name, but he doesn’t seem to be a stranger to incidents on Highway 36.
Kyle Sorenson can attest.
“I hit a kid’s bike that had been right in the center of the road,” said Sorenson. “As I looked in my rearview mirror, I saw someone sitting there [just north] on Pawnee Road. They pulled up behind me and it was this individual saying he was checking to make sure we were okay.”
Seeing little damage on his vehicle, Kyle left, but later, near the same place along the highway, his wife spotted the same man behind another car leaking oil on the roadway.
“In two weeks, this has been three incidents where he was immediately the first person on the scene,” Sorenson said. “It seems strange.”
And even stranger, about two weeks later, Sorenson would see the same man from his incident at the crash scene of his friends, Garrison and Skylar Beach.
“I really didn’t want to confront the person, but I informed the police,” Sorenson said. “I don’t want to accuse and say this person is absolutely doing this, but I want to make aware this is strange.”
Feeling lucky to have survived the crash, the Beaches now wonder if the object sitting in their lane was simply bad luck — or no accident after all.
“We definitely want some answers on why he’s doing what he’s doing,” Skylar Beach said. “We just don’t want this to keep happening to other people, or something even worse to happen.”
The Douglas County Sheriff is investigating multiple incidents of objects laying in driving lanes on Highway 36 near Bennington. Even though it’s a main route to the landfill, the deputies want to determine if the debris fell off a truck or had placed in the roadway on purpose.
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People across Nebraska and Kansas reported feeling an earthquake Sunday afternoon.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a quake measuring 4.1 on the Richter Scale struck around 1 p.m. about 3 miles east of the Webster County village of Cowles, which is in south-central Nebraska near the Kansas border.
A quake of that magnitude is considered “light” and not likely to cause damage.
But the USGS received dozens of reports from people who said they felt the quake, some as far away as Omaha and Manhattan, Kansas. Numerous people took to social media to report feeling the quake.
Two aftershocks of 2.6 magnitude later occurred near the original quake site, one about 90 minutes after the initial quake and one later Sunday night.
Earthquakes are relatively rare in Nebraska, but the state does usually record one or two minor ones per year. The last time Nebraska recorded a quake of a magnitude 4 or above was in December 2023, also in Webster County.
The results are in for the Nebraska Lottery’s draw games on Monday, March 2, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on March 2.
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 2 drawing
21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 2 drawing
7-5-8
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 2 drawing
03-08-09-17-25
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from March 2 drawing
Red Balls: 14-26, White Balls: 17-18
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning MyDay numbers from March 2 drawing
Month: 05, Day: 03, Year: 23
Check MyDay payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing
28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Nebraska Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3, 5: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- 2 By 2: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- MyDaY: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
NioCorp announced Monday that it plans to start work on its critical minerals mine in southeast Nebraska.
The project, which the company is calling its mine portal project, will involve building a main entrance to the Elk Creek underground mine and will serve as the primary access point for personnel, equipment, and materials for the underground mining operations. It also will include excavating bedrock, drilling and blasting to establish the twin mine ramps, on-site access road construction, and construction of on-site supporting infrastructure.
The project, which will cost nearly $45 million, is set to get underway before the end of the month. It marks the first time Colorado-based NioCorp will actually start any significant work on the main mine, from which the company hopes to extract niobium, scandium, titanium and other minerals.
“Given the size of this excavation work, the portal project really marks the beginning of a major pre-construction activity at the Elk Creek Project site and is an important step toward preparing for underground development,” Scott Honan, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said in a release.
Mark A. Smith, Niocorp’s chairman and CEO, called the project, “a significant milestone.”
Niocorp has spent more than 15 years trying to develop the mine on land in Johnson County, about 65 miles southeast of Lincoln.
The company still needs to raise a significant amount of money to make the $1.2 billion mine a reality, though. In December, NioCorp said it had raised about $360 million, or a little more than a quarter of the total cost. It is still waiting for approval of a $780 million debt financing application from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
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