21-year-old Rigby man who had a ‘heart of gold’ continues to bless others after unexpected death

RIGBY — A Rigby man, remembered for the selfless life he lived, was able to bless others through organ donation.

Noel Rios, who went by the name Titus Freeman, died on the evening of Oct. 19, 2025, at the age of 21. He was riding his dirt bike — he’s been riding since he was 3 years old — when he was involved in a crash with a truck half a mile from his home in Rigby.

“He was most likely killed on impact,” Janice Bell, who is Freeman’s aunt, told EastIdahoNews.com. “He had a helmet and all his riding gear on, and it didn’t save him.”

On Oct. 13, just days before the accident, Freeman turned 21. Bell said her nephew’s best friend, who is in his late 60s, told him he needed to get a “big boy license” since he was now 21.

“He took Friday off to go get his new driver’s license … and he thought to himself (and told his mom), ‘I’m an adult now, I should be a donor.’ He wasn’t a donor before,” Bell explained. “When he went down there (to renew his license), he became a donor. That was Friday, and he was killed Sunday.”

After the accident, Freeman was rushed to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where his family was told he wouldn’t survive. The hospital found out he was a donor, and he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit and put on life support.

A donor honor walk took place Oct. 22, where Freeman, who had been declared brain dead, was wheeled down to the operating room as family, friends, coworkers and hospital employees lined the hallways.

Thanks to Freeman’s decision to become a donor, he helped save the lives of seven other people.

“His heart went to another 21-year-old boy in Utah,” said Bell, who said she hopes that person goes on to “do great things.” “We don’t know much about his other ones (like) his kidneys and lungs.”

Freeman not only helped others as a donor but also by giving freely and serving those around him, which he did throughout his life.

Freeman worked for Knife River in Idaho Falls at the time of his death. Bell mentioned that he led a crew of men twice his age, and he’d get to work at 5 a.m. to start everybody’s machines so they’d be warm for them.

“He gave his whole crew lunch money (and gas money) all the time,” she said. “When he passed away, they all paid him back in his front loader (that) was his machine. It was full of money.”

Freeman, who was born in Caldwell, has one older and one younger sister. Bell said Freeman had a challenging childhood, but he rose above it. At 19, he decided to buy a house in Rigby for his mom.

“She not only loved him — every parent has a favorite, I don’t care what they say. If they say they don’t, they lie — but Titus, the reason he was her favorite is he also loved her the most,” Bell said.

Freeman was a gifted baseball player who enjoyed playing disc golf and going fishing. When he was 12, he rebuilt a snowmobile, and most recently, he was rebuilding the engine in his truck. He got his truck running the day of his accident, but he never got a chance to drive it.

“He was such a good boy. Never in trouble in his life,” Bell recalled. “He didn’t go out drinking. He was in bed by 8 or 9. We call him the old man of the family. He was an anomaly.”

Bell said losing her nephew was “the worst thing possible,” but she is proud of the lives he was able to save.

“You don’t have to be religious, or you can be, but God — if there is a God — he did this. This must have been part of his plan … of some plan,” she said. “I guess he had a plan for my beautiful, sweet nephew.”

Freeman will be honored in Utah this summer when his name is added to “The Celebration of Life Monument.” The monument is a memorial and tribute to individuals both living and deceased that have donated organs, tissue, and eyes for either transplant or research in the intermountain area.