Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Bodies of Possible Missing Hikers Found at Site of Crash on Angeles Crest Highway

Los Angeles County sheriff's and fire department search and rescue teams were searching for the hikers when the vehicle was found.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA —Officials who found the three bodies in a truck off the Angeles Crest Highway are expecting to identify the three missing teenagers from Fontana, according to reports.

Though the victims are still pending identification, Brian Elias of the L.A. County coroner's office told the Los Angeles Times that investigators “anticipate it to be the three missing teens.”

The crash may have resulted from driving at speeds in excess of the road conditions, but investigators do not believe any other cars were involved, according to the Times report.

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The bodies of three people — possibly missing hikers — were found Monday at the site of a crashed pickup truck that went 150 feet over the side of Angeles Crest Highway north of Altadena.

The vehicle was located just after 5 p.m. near mile marker 40, about 9 miles north of the Foothill (210) Freeway, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

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A sheriff's helicopter crew reported there were three dead victims at the scene, a dispatcher said.

It was not immediately confirmed if the victims were Daniel Gamboa, 19; Kasey Vance, 18; and Samantha Ornelas, 17, all of Fontana, who told family members they were going hiking in Angeles National Forest, possibly near Mt. Wilson, where the crashed pickup was found.

Fontana police had said the hikers were believed to be in Gamboa's 2008 white Toyota Tundra pickup truck, a vehicle similar to the one shown on television newscasts crashed over the side of the highway.

Los Angeles County sheriff's and fire department search and rescue teams were searching for the hikers when the vehicle was found.

City News Service, photo courtesy of the Fontana Police Department

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