2 Malibu Residents Killed in Kanan Car Crash

Neighbor Mary Lynn Martin told Patch on Wednesday that Malibu resident Steven J. Halpern, 61, and his mother Belle, 90, were killed in . The mother and son lived together at a home in Trancas Highlands.

Martin said her daughter passed the scene of the crash, and recognized the light green Jaguar sedan with the custom license plate "UCLA."  She said California Highway Patrol officer J. G. Lawrence told her of the deaths on Wednesday.

"He said that Belle Halpern died almost immediately and that Steven died about four hours later," Martin wrote in an email to Malibu Patch. "The officer had been at the accident, and Steven was conscious and able to speak. They did not find a cellphone, and he did not appear to have a heart attack. But I do know that Steven was always a careful driver."

The CHP told Patch it is continuing to investigate the incident. It would not release the names of the dead pending notification of next of kin. However, as of Wednesday night, officials could only find an autistic brother of Steven Halpern who lives in a special facility in Orange County.

The one-vehicle crash happened at about 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Malibu resident Carol Larkin was the first person to see the car after it collided into the mountain side of Kanan near the first tunnel. She called 9-1-1, and walked over to the scene of what she called "a horrific accident."

"I held [Belle's] hand and told her everything was going to be alright," Larkin said. "She was a tough, strong lady, in a lot of pain."

Larkin said the roof and doors needed to be removed to get the Halperns out of the vehicle.

Steven Halpern was a retired attorney. His mother was a retired script supervisor. Martin wrote that Steven Halpern was "very involved with UCLA." His father, Belle Halpern's husband, owned a steakhouse in New York before moving with his family to the West Coast in the 1960s. She described them as "the perfect neighbors."

"They always had a smile and a wave as we passed them working in the garden they so enjoyed," she wrote. "Steven doted on his mother and rarely left the house without her. He was a good man and a devoted son, and she was very proud of him."