>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

ELGIN — An Elgin man was killed Tuesday night when the ATV he was riding overturned in a gravel pit near Jubilee Lake.

Capt. Craig Ward of the Union County Sheriff’s Office said the body of Rex Allen Kennedy, 47, was found Wednesday morning in the gravel area west of Forest Service Road 63. Kennedy apparently died sometime around dusk Tuesday night.

Investigators believe Kennedy  drove his Yamaha Kodiac four-wheeler up the smaller of two gravel piles, lost traction and began to slide downhill

The ATV, which Kennedy had purchased two weeks ago, overturned. Kennedy was pinned underneath.

The Union County Search and Rescue unit was called out to look for Kennedy Wednesday morning. The call was canceled about 8 a.m.

“We were notified it was no longer a search, but instead an investigation. We had to determine what had happened to him,” Ward said.

Ward said it appears that after the ATV lost traction, it slid down the hill sideways, tipped, then rolled, landing on top of Kennedy. The vehicle weighed about 500 pounds, Ward said.

The fact that the ATV’s headlight was on, plus other physical evidence, indicated that the accident occurred sometime around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Ward said.