Missing passenger found dead after cliffside crash in Ventura County

Officials announced Saturday that crews found a body that is believed to be the last missing passenger involved in a Ventura County cliffside crash from Dec. 1.

According to an update released by the California Highway Patrol, the Ventura County Search and Rescue (VCSAR) team was conducting a search in “treacherous terrain” on Dec. 7 when they found a deceased body underneath thick foliage.

CHP says the identity will not be released as it is pending next of kin notification, but that it is believed to be the last missing occupant of the car that plunged 1,000 feet down a hillside a week earlier.

The crash, which happened in the area of Deer Creek Road, took place around 2 a.m. on Dec. 1 but was not reported to CHP until around noon on Dec. 2.

According to CHP, “the reporting party claimed he exited from the vehicle and hiked to a nearby road where he was picked up, but never heard from the other two occupants in the vehicle.” Officials did not immediately say what exactly caused the crash.

Officers arrived on Dec. 2 to find the white Cadillac Escalade down the cliff and learned that no one had heard from the driver or additional passenger since the crash.

A full search and rescue team then was dispatched through multiple agencies to find the other two occupants but did not find any before calling it off four hours later “due to darkness and treacherous terrain,” according to CHP.

In a 7:30 p.m. update on X, formerly Twitter, that same day, fire officials said that one of the missing occupants had been located at their residence.  

By around 9 p.m., crews were able to access and search the vehicle, though they were unable to locate the missing occupant before the search was suspended until Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, CHP said VCSAR used a helicopter to search again during the daytime hours but were still unable to locate the missing occupant.

A missing person report was filed for the last missing occupant on Dec. 6, so CHP said it again requested VCSAR to search the area on Dec. 7 which is when crews found the dead body.

It remains unclear why the crash was not reported earlier, and whether it was the driver or another passenger that was found dead, but CHP says the investigation is ongoing.