Mystery as white pickup terrifies women by stalking them while driving on Montana's empty highways

Published: 07:15, 20 April 2026 | Updated: 07:20, 20 April 2026 A mysterious white pickup truck has been stalking women along Montana's long, empty highways. Lizette Lamb, 48, said she was driving from Roundup to Glasgow along Highway 191 on April 10 when she pulled over at The Ole' Mercantile Conoco station in Grass Range at around 7pm and first noticed the vehicle, which did not have a front license plate. It 'kind of gave her the heebie-jeebies,' her husband, Travis, told Cowboy State Daily of the pickup truck.  'My wife worked in a prison and stuff like that, so she's used to kind of going with her gut.'  Shortly after Lizette got back on the road, she said she noticed the same pickup truck behind her. 'I noticed that they were pulling too close to me, to my bumper, and at that moment, I just felt very uneasy,' she recounted to KTVQ. 'But I was like "OK, maybe they're just trying to go around me.'  Yet even when she sped up to about 85mph, the truck continued to stay close behind, riding so close to her she could no longer see its windshield - only the grille. 'I was like, "Oh my goodness, I'm going really fast and they're almost tailgating me,' Lizette said. 'At that moment, I was like, my life is in danger.' The situation then escalated near a hill, where she said the driver of the pickup tried to squeeze next to her and pull ahead of her to force her off the road. Lizette Lamb, 48, (left) was driving from Roundup to Glasgow along Highway 191 on April 10 when she said a white Ford pickup truck started following her. She is pictured with her husband, Travis Lizette had stopped at The Ole' Mercantile Conoco gas station, where she said she first noticed the mysterious vehicle 'She was fortunate, kind of timed it to when to turn into her and hit her, she sped up,' Travis explained. 'And they missed.' But that is when she noticed there were two men inside the truck, which had dark-tinted windows. Lizette then tried to call 911, but could not get through due to the limited cell service in the area. At that point, she decided to show the two men she had her pistol on her. 'They made a fast U-turn and they turned the other way and they took off,' she said.  'That's when all that became to me a reality, like it's something I think today, this moment, I might end up having to use my gun because it's my life. It's either them or me, and I choose me,' Lizette continued. 'Just being in that moment, I hope nobody has to go through that because it really kind of just put a lot of things in perspective.' Following the encounter, Lizette said she called Travis, who reported the incident to the Phillips County Sheriff's Office. Dispatchers then confirmed the report, and Travis said they informed him they received similar calls in the past. Following the encounter, Lizette said she called Travis, who reported the incident to the Phillips County Sheriff's Office He later shared the experience to Facebook to warn others to be careful Deputies were then dispatched to the scene, but due to the rural nature of the area, family members reached her before law enforcement arrived on the scene. The following day, Travis shared the experience on his Facebook, urging others to stay aware of their surroundings. 'I did it for the aspect of just making people aware that "Hey, you know it's not the Montana that we all grew up in,"' he said. 'It's changed and we have to change along with it or we're going to be victims of it.' But what the couple didn't expect were the 36 accounts from women who experienced similar situations in the same area. The pattern in many of the comments was the same - it was a white pickup, often a Ford, sometimes with out-of-state plates, tailgating women on isolated stretches of a two-lane highway after dark. Holly Pierce, of Columbia Falls, for example, said she had a comparable experience in December 2024 while driving on Highway 87 near Roundup for a funeral in Glasgow. She said a truck repeatedly brake-checked her and her friend, who was in the vehicle with her, before coming to a complete stop in the roadway. 'I got next to him,' Pierce said. 'He gunned it down and started racing next to me and I just could not get around him. I was going over a hundred miles an hour. I was just trying to get away from him.'  The couple was shocked to find 36 accounts from women who experienced similar situations in the same area She said she was eventually able to get away from the pickup driver, but said the experience still affects her. 'It scares me to think what would happen if I would have stopped and said "Do you need help?"' Pierce said. 'It was so crazy and I think about what happens to the women who haven't gotten away.' In another incident, Penny Ronning, the cofounder and president of Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force, said she was driving from Billings to Havre for a campaign event in 2022 when she was running as a Democrat for US Congress. She took back roads when she said a four-door white pickup truck with blacked-out windows pulled up behind her. 'That was what made it frightening. It was that I was followed.'  Joni Hartford, of Lewistown, also shared an eerily similar experience to Lamb. She said she had dropped off some belongings to her son, a football player at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, and stopped at a gas station on her way out of town 'for a pop.' She then climbed back into her vehicle and headed north on Highway 87 around 7.30 or 8pm. Soon, she said she noticed the truck. 'It was right behind me and I kept thinking, "God this vehicle is super close," Hartford said.  Penny Ronning, who ran for Congress in 2022, reported a similar experience  At that point, Hartford said she slowed to 60mph hoping the truck would go around - but it didn't. 'He was so close behind me,' she recounted. 'I couldn't see his taillights but I could see his marker lamps on his mirrors, his tow mirrors. So I knew it was a Ford pickup and I knew it was like a three-quarter or a one-ton. It was a big pickup.' Hartford then called her husband. 'I said, "This pickup is tailgating me," and said, "It's really kind of making me nervous because if I had to stop for a deer, it would run me over. It would run me off the road,' she said. 'And he goes, "Well, just stop." And I said, "I am not stopping. I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere.' Hartford eventually caught a lucky break when she noticed an Amish buggy sluggishly climbing up a blind hill and slowing traffic. 'I darted around the Amish buggy, right before the blind hill, and he couldn't get around them and I just gunned it and I was going probably 90mph just to put space between us,' she said. 'I never seen him again.' Lamb said she just wanted to get home to her family (pictured) Hartford, who carries a .380 pistol which she had on her front seat at the time, said the parallels with Lamb's story stopped her cold. 'It's the same exact situation,' she exclaimed. 'I can't say for certain it was the same person, but it sure seems like the same person. 'They're targeting [women] at gas stations,' she continued. 'That's the only place they could have found me because it's the only place I've stopped.' The victims say they believe the lack of cell service in the area makes drivers more vulnerable, though a motive for the stalking incidents remains unclear. 'I don't think they were trying to scare me,' Lamb said. 'I think it was more sinister. I think they had a plan. But I was like, "I'm going to go home, I'm going to see my family."' Yet Ronning, who has spent years working on human trafficking policy and prevention, pushed back on rhetoric that they may be engaging in human trafficking. 'Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel a person into commercial sex acts or labor against their will,' she said. 'Just because someone is being followed, that doesn't rise to the level of human trafficking.' Ole' Mercantile owner Krista Manley is pouring through the surveillance footage in hopes of finding the driver of the vehicle The Ole' Mercantile is outfitted with a top-of-the-line camera system that offers a 360-degree view with no blind spots, capturing the property, a nearby bar and the full stretch of the Highway 87 frontage running through town As the investigation into the stalking incidents now continues, Fergus County investigators are hoping The Ole' Mercantile gas station's security footage can help identify the driver of the vehicle. Owner Krista Manley said the store is outfitted with a top-of-the-line camera system that offers a 360-degree view with no blind spots, capturing her property, a nearby bar and the full stretch of the Highway 87 frontage running through town. So far, she said she has seen no sign of the truck in the surveillance footage, but she insisted 'that doesn't mean it didn't happen.' 'My default is to absolutely believe women and she [Lizette] was, she was rattled,' said Manley, who holds a PhD in cognitive psychology. 'We're absolutely not arguing the authenticity of the report in any way, shape or form,' she continued. 'In my previous life before I had the store, I actually was a memory and cognition researcher. I understand how stress impacts memory.' Manley is now hoping to have the Lambs look at the footage themselves to see if Lizette can recognize the vehicle. At the same time, Travis said he is 'hoping somebody's like "I know that pickup." 'That's what I'm praying for,' he said.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. 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