Families remember loved ones after tragic crash involving woman and man in Arco

ARCO — Families and friends are remembering their loved ones after a man and woman died in a UTV crash last week.

On Wednesday, Aug. 16, after 10:35 a.m., the Butte County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a side-by-side UTV stopped in the middle of the road on a trail near the Number Hill. Deputies located two people that were found dead near the vehicle.

They were identified as Melanie Molina, 48, and Andrew Fuchs, 41, both of Arco.

Preliminary investigation shows Molina and Fuchs were driving the side-by-side on the top part of another road, hit a rock, and began rolling multiple times down to the bottom of a hill.

RELATED | Man and woman killed near Number Hill in Arco identified

Friends and family of the victims reached out to EastIdahoNews.com following to the crash to memorialize them.

Melanie Molina

Molina was born in Louisiana. Tuesday, Aug. 22, is her birthday, and she would have been 49. She had three daughters and a son, all living across the U.S. in North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Florida.

“We were far in distance but close at heart with my mom,” said Vanessa Dawson, one of Molina’s daughters.

Dawson described her mother as a sweet and kind person. She was loving, compassionate and would give you the shirt off her back. She enjoyed cooking for others and liked to draw.

“She always did a lot for others. She always put herself last. She always put everyone else first. In any little way that she could show you that she cared and that she was thinking about you, she would do it,” Dawson said. “She always just made me and my sisters and my brother know that she really did love us.”

Molina’s faith in God was strong too, and that was very important to her. She would share scriptures or words of encouragement with Dawson.

The last time Dawson had talked to her mother was on Aug. 12 through video chat. Her mom was showing her the new side-by-side someone had bought her.

“I just remember her showing it to me. She was just so excited and happy,” Dawson recalls.

Dawson said she had met Fuchs over the phone too.

“When I would video chat my mom, he would be around sometimes and she would be like, ‘This is my friend Andrew.’ He would say hi. I know he was a good friend of hers,” Dawson said.

It’s hard knowing that Molina is now gone and Dawson is hoping people can help her and her family with unexpected expenses related to her mother’s death. Click here to see the GoFundMe page.

“It has been very, very hard. She was so young. To me, that’s young. And we got really close,” Dawson said.

Andrew Fuchs

Andrews Fuchs, or “Drew” as his family likes to call him, is originally from Pennsylvania. According to his obituary, he was raised and educated in Corry, Pennsylvania. Fuchs moved to Titusville in the same state and worked at Homer Wood and then at Titusville Beverage.

Fuchs decided to relocate and ended up in Arco where he wanted to enjoy life. He worked at Grand Avenue Motel in Arco at the time of his death.

“He was an all-around, likable guy. He just had that kind of personality. Outgoing and caring,” said Angel Guesman, his sister.

Guesman said her brother was very smart and intellectual. He was artistic and liked to draw. He often drew pictures for people.

“He just loved everybody,” Guesman said. “He would (also) stick up for me no matter what.”

He loved the outdoors and four-wheeling. It came as no surprise to Guesman to learn that he was doing what he loved to do the day that he passed away but the thought of him gone is very difficult.

“We are heartbroken and torn up,” she said.

Fuchs leaves behind his daughter and many others who loved him. Guesman said they are raising money on a GoFundMe page to bring her brother home so he can be buried on the family farm in Pennsylvania. Costs will go to his headstone and service.

“Everybody loved him,” Guesman said.