Search For Missing Car On Ortega Highway Likely A 'False Alarm'

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — Emergency responders scouring the cliffs of the Ortega Highway (74) for a car over the side were called off Monday morning, according to California Highway Patrol.

Shortly before 10:30 a.m., Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire and CHP answered reports that a car vanished over the side near the 31000 block of Ortega Highway.

A woman called 911, saying that she "saw something fly off the roadway" and that a car was "sinking into the bushes," according to CHP reports. She told officers that she witnessed a vehicle go off the roadway near a white house in the Ortega (74) Highway area near Tenaja Truck Trail, just west of Lake Elsinore.

Cal Fire, CHP, and a Riverside County Sheriff's Department helicopter searched for about an hour before calling it off, according to CHP officer Mike Lassig. The airship was unable to find any evidence of a car over the side, and it was determined what the woman saw was likely a boulder.

This is a developing report and will be updated when more information is available.