WINONA, Mo. (THECOUNT) — An 18-year-old Winona man was killed Sunday morning after his northbound motorcycle collided with a southbound ambulance making a left turn on Highway 19 in Shannon County, Missouri, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 18 years old and a resident of Winona, Missouri.
The crash occurred at approximately 8:35 a.m. on Sunday, March 15, 2026, on Highway 19 approximately six miles south of Winona, in Shannon County. According to the MSHP crash report, the victim was operating a 2005 Yamaha V-Star motorcycle traveling northbound when it struck a 2023 Ford ambulance that was traveling southbound and turning left across the roadway.
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Shannon County Coroner Allen Ford pronounced the motorcycle operator dead at 9:10 a.m. at the scene. Both the motorcyclist and the ambulance driver were wearing safety devices at the time of the crash, according to troopers. Next of kin was notified prior to the public release of the crash information.
The driver of the ambulance, identified as a 32-year-old man from West Plains, Missouri, was not reported injured in the collision. The 2005 Yamaha motorcycle was totaled and towed from the scene.
The crash was investigated by Trooper S.A. Swink of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop G, which covers a 10-county area in south-central Missouri including Shannon, Texas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Douglas, Wright, Laclede, Pulaski, and Phelps counties. The Winona Fire Department also responded to the scene, along with several troopers.
Winona is the county seat of Shannon County, located in the Mark Twain National Forest region of the Missouri Ozarks. The community sits along Highway 19, a north-south rural corridor that is a primary route through the Ozark highlands. The area is sparsely populated with the nearest larger city being West Plains, the seat of Howell County, located approximately 40 miles to the southeast. Poplar Bluff, Rolla, and Salem are among the regional cities accessible from the broader Troop G coverage area.
Highway 19 through Shannon County is a two-lane rural roadway that passes through dense national forest terrain, with limited commercial development. The road is a major thoroughfare for residents accessing healthcare and emergency services in the region, making ambulance traffic a regular presence on the corridor.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol noted that Sunday’s fatality marked Troop G’s fifth traffic death of 2026. At the same point in 2025, the troop had recorded six fatalities, according to patrol records.
Missouri recorded hundreds of traffic fatalities in 2025, with rural highways like those in the Ozarks disproportionately represented in statewide crash data. Single-vehicle and two-vehicle crashes on rural two-lane roads are among the most common fatal crash types documented by the MSHP annually.
No additional information regarding the identity of the deceased motorcyclist has been released pending full next-of-kin notification. The crash remains under investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
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