Mother and Three Children Involved in Sterling Highway Rollover

A mother of three suffered a rollover on slick roads on the approach to Homer on Wednesday troopers report.

A call went into trooper dispatch in Kenai at 3:22 pm on Wednesday reporting a rollover near Walter Thomas at mile 168 of the Sterling Highway and an Alaska Wildlife Trooper responded to the scene. When he arrived, he found a gold Ford F-250 on its roof down an embankment at that location.

Troopers reported four individuals outside of the vehicle at the crash location. The  trooper contacted the driver, identified as 34-year-old Katie Gatica of Homer, who told troopers that “she tapped on the brakes and her car started to spin out of control and they went off into the ditch.”


Gatica had her three children, ages three years, two years, and five months secured in car seats in the back seat of the vehicle at the time of the incident and reported all occupants were wearing seatbelts.

The entire family was transported to the South Peninsula Hospital by EMS.