Carl Trybom was startled Saturday morning when he heard a “loud boom” somewhere outside his house north of Lawrence.

Trybom, 85, looked out one of his windows and didn’t see anything. He didn’t think anymore about it until sometime later. Then he decided to check the front window where the drapes were pulled, he said.

“Landsakes, there was a truck wrapped around a tree,” Trybom, 85, said.

About 9:30a.m. Kansas Highway Patrol troopers and Douglas County Sheriff’s officers responded to investigate the crash along U.S. Highways 24 and 59 1 1/2 miles north of Lawrence.

Alvin E. Stowe, 60, of Lawrence, the driver of the truck, was dead at the scene, law enforcement officials said.

Stowe was southbound when his 1999 Chevrolet pickup truck left the highway, traveled through a wire fence and struck two trees, coming to a stop against the second tree, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation and Stowe’s body was taken to the Shawnee County Coroner’s office, which also handles autopsies for Douglas County.

Although snow and ice had been pushed to the side to the highway, the highway itself was not icy.

Trybom, who has lived at the same location for 40 years, has seen similar accidents on his property. About 10 years ago a car with four people in it left the highway, hit a utility pole and came to a stop on top of a gas meter in Trybom’s yard.

“There were flames shooting up all around, but they all got out without being hurt,” Trybom said.