The quiet of a Thursday night in Ellettsville was shattered by a sound no one ever wants to hear: the heavy, unmistakable crunch of metal on metal. Just before 9 p.m. on December 18, 2025, a devastating head-on collision on West State Road 46 took the lives of two people and left a community reeling. Among those lost was Taylor Ferguson, a name now surfacing in a wave of local grief as friends and family begin to process a reality they weren’t prepared for.
It happened near North Cypress Lane, a stretch of road familiar to anyone grabbing a late-night coffee or heading home from Bloomington. According to the Ellettsville Police Department, a Chevrolet sedan heading west suddenly drifted across the center line. It’s a split-second error with permanent consequences. The Chevy slammed directly into an eastbound Jeep, leaving both vehicles mangled in the roadway near the local McDonald’s and Starbucks.
First responders were on the scene within minutes, but the damage was already done for those inside the sedan. Taylor Ferguson and a second occupant in the westbound vehicle died right there at the scene. While the police are still working through the formal process of notifying every family member involved, the weight of the loss has already started to settle over the town.
Inside the Jeep, three people faced a different kind of nightmare. They survived the initial impact but were rushed to IU Health Bloomington Hospital with various injuries. By Friday morning, hospital staff reported that all three were in stable condition. It is a small mercy in an otherwise dark situation, though the emotional recovery for those survivors will likely take much longer than the physical healing.
The aftermath turned State Road 46 into a ghost town of flashing lights and yellow tape. The Monroe County Major Crash Investigation Team took over the site, meticulously reconstructing the scene for several hours to figure out exactly why that Chevy crossed the line. Was it a distraction, a medical issue, or something else entirely? For now, the police aren’t saying, but the investigation remains wide open.
In a small town like Ellettsville, news like this travels with a heavy heart. Throughout the day, tributes have started to trickle in for Taylor Ferguson. Those who knew Taylor are describing a life cut far too short, leaving behind a void that no police report or investigation can ever truly fill. It’s the kind of tragedy that makes every neighbor hug their loved ones a little tighter before they head out the door.
Authorities are still looking for answers and are leaning on the public for help. If you were driving near Cypress Lane around 9 p.m. on Thursday or if you have a dashcam that might have caught the moments leading up to the crash, the Ellettsville Police Department wants to hear from you at 812-876-2272. For a town currently united in sorrow, any piece of the puzzle might help bring a sense of closure to the families left behind.
