Autopsy results revealed that a 23-year-old Whitefish man involved in a single vehicle accident last month died of heart complications related to a genetic disorder, according to authorities.
Spencer Jugan was pronounced dead Dec. 30 at North Valley Hospital in Whitefish after he was found unresponsive in a sport-utility vehicle that drifted off U.S. 93 north of Kalispell. Officials determined the accident did not play a role in Jugan’s death.
According to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, an autopsy at the State Crime Lab in Missoula found that Jugan had an enlarged heart and suffered from Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue.
The cause of death is being ruled cardiac dysrhythmia, also known as an irregular heartbeat, due to complications from the syndrome and other irregularities in Jugan’s heart, according to the autopsy.
The Montana Highway Patrol was notified around 8 p.m. of an unresponsive male in a 1996 Ford Explorer that was resting in the ditch along the east side of U.S. 93. The vehicle appeared to have slowly drifted off the right lane of the highway. It did not have significant damage and the airbags did not deploy. Jugan was alone in the vehicle. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.