Billy DuTremaine
Billy DuTremainecca

The Tri-City Record has learned that alcohol and excessive speed likely contributed to the crash that killed Farmington businessman William “Billy” DuTremaine in September 2024, according to a New Mexico State Police report.

DuTremaine, 57, was a well-known entrepreneur and community supporter who owned Cottonwood Clinical Services, Ironwood Gym and Locke Street Eats.

He reportedly was under the influence of alcohol and driving his GMC pickup with Sarah Jantz, 23, on Sept. 9, 2024, when the truck struck a 2015 Lincoln and rolled three to four times across the median, hit another truck and stopped near milepost 165 on U.S. Highway 550, according to the report.

DuTremaine and Jantz were not wearing seat belts, and both were ejected from the pickup, the report states.

This was not DuTremaine’s first suspected impaired driving incident. Court records show he was charged Feb. 26, 2009, with a third aggravated DWI.

He entered into a plea agreement June 25, 2009, admitting to a “non-aggravated” first DWI and was sentenced to one day in jail, 90 days of outpatient treatment and 364 days of supervised probation, according to court records.

San Juan County Sheriff’s Deputy Avery Killifer first reported the allegation that DuTremaine was driving and possibly under the influence in the Sept. 9, 2024, crash, according to the NMSP report.

Killifer informed New Mexico State Police officer Dominic Detsoi that DuTremaine was driving and the deputy “could smell an alcoholic beverage off of him.” Paramedics confirmed the smell, according to the report.

Killifer attempted CPR on DuTremaine, who was not conscious and not breathing when Killifer arrived, the report says. He was transported to San Juan Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Sarah Jantz, 23, pictured here undergoing treatment to recover from injuries she sustained in the Sept. 9, 2024 crash.
Sarah Jantz, 23, pictured here undergoing treatment to recover from injuries she sustained in the Sept. 9, 2024 crash.cca

Jantz sustained “major injuries” and was flown to University of New Mexico Hospital for treatment.

On a GoFundMe page, her family reported that Jantz had a spinal cord injury and would never walk again.

Jantz also suffered a broken arm and a “fractured orbital bone on her right eye,” according to the GoFundMe page, which was raising money to help her parents with medical costs and ongoing care.

The Tri-City Record left a phone message for Diane Jantz, Sarah’s mother, but she did not respond.

Kim DuTremaine, the wife of Billy, alleged that Jantz was driving – a claim the New Mexico State Police investigated but could not substantiate.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Decker told the Tri-City Record on Dec. 19 that no charges would be brought against Jantz because the New Mexico State Police were unable to provide enough evidence to determine who was driving.

When asked about her husband’s death, Kim told the Tri-City Record, “The only thing that we can say is he was a passenger.”

She told the same thing to Detsoi two days after the crash.

The NMSP report states that Kim told Detsoi that on Sept. 11 she had “one of her workers” go to the Camel Towing yard, where they “cleaned out the truck.”

This was before State Police secured a search warrant for the vehicle Sept. 12, according to the report.

Detsoi stated in the report that Kim told him the front seat of the GMC was “pushed up, which appeared someone with a small stature might have been driving,” the report states.

After obtaining a search warrant, Detsoi wrote in the report that he looked at the front driver seat and “the top half” of it appeared to be bent by the GMC’s roof caving in “from the rollover,” the report states.

Detsoi also stated in the report that he looked at the driver seat rails, which allow the seat to move, and the “rails were not broken,” which could mean Jantz had been driving.

This was not enough evidence to support a charge against Jantz, according to Decker.

Jantz reportedly has no memory of the crash, according to the GoFundMe page.

Agnetti credits DuTremaine with helping to turn around his life in Farmington

Ricky Agnetti and wife, Nicole, at the Nov. 11 Farmington City Council meeting. William “Billy” DuTremaine had a history of helping people, according to his friend Ricky Agnetti. Because of DuTremaine, Agnetti got off meth and now is the executive director of Brenda’s House of Hope, a transitional home that helps men rebuild their lives after addiction. DuTremaine, 57, who owned Cottonwood Clinical Services, Ironwood Gym and Locke Street Eats, died in a crash Sept. 9, 2024, when his pickup hit a 2015 Lincoln and rolled three or four times on U.S. Highway 550, according to a State Police report. Passenger Sarah Jantz, 23, was injured. Agnetti came to Farmington in 2010, when DuTremaine bought him an airline ticket from Arizona to help him. “I detoxed and got better with my life again,” Agnetti said. He “took people in and made them better,” Agnetti said, adding that’s how Billy and his wife, Kim DuTremaine, built Cottonwood Clinical Services Inc. Agnetti and DuTremaine had been friends for more than 25 years.“I mean, I hung out with Billy every day. … I was with him every day for a long time. The last year of his life was with me and my wife,” Agnetti said, adding they worked out at 8:30 a.m. every day at Ironwood Gym.“His death came unexpected,” Agnetti said, adding that the last time he saw DuTremaine was during an Aug. 30, 2024, family dinner. “He came and … he showed me his truck.”It was the same truck that crashed. Agnetti recently received the Mayor’s Citizenship Award for his work with Brenda’s House of Hope. Its mission is to build a culture of recovery while providing men with housing, nutrition, transportation, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and access to Ironwood Gym with trainers.“Look what he built for me,” Agnetti said. “You know, I’ve always honored Billy for saving my life, back when I was in prison, giving me an option.” 12361442

Despite this, Kim DuTremaine on April 1, 2025, petitioned the 11th Judicial District Court to appoint her as the “personal representative to pursue a wrongful death claim.”

She did not name Jantz in the petition, which was dismissed Oct. 17, 2025, by District Judge Stephen Wayne, who wrote in the order that “no significant action has been taken in 180 or more days in connection with any and all pending claims.”

Kim DuTremaine’s attorney, Richard Parmley, requested that she be reinstated, saying, “These claims are still currently being pursued,” and Parmley would “file semi-annual short status reports to keep the file from administrative closing.”

She also told the Tri-City Record that she had received a settlement, saying, “I filed a wrongful-death suit, and when they paid out on the wrongful death, there was a clause in there that said, not me, not the other party can talk about it.”

Kim DuTremaine also filed an application on Dec. 3, 2024, to be DuTremaine’s personal representative in the settlement of his estate, which went into probate, according to 11th Judicial District Court documents.

She gave the court notice Feb. 17, 2025, of the preparation of an inventory of DuTremaine’s property, according to court records.

Then, on July 8, 2025, she entered a verified statement that the “assets of the estate have been distributed,” according to court records.

Reporter David Edward Albright of the Tri-City Record contributed to this report.