Investigators are still trying to determine whether a fatal accident involving a mother and daughter from the San Francisco Bay area was accidental or intentional after her vehicle was spotted by dozens of spectators driving through a parking lot without braking before falling off the side of a cliff. at a popular northern California coastal lookout over the weekend.
Speaking to the media on Monday, California highway patrol officer David de Rutte said the cause of the accident on Saturday morning on the Bodega Bay head trail is still under investigation. It is unclear why Maria Teixeira, 64, continued to drive her Toyota SUV through a wooden barrier in a large parking lot on the trail before plummeting off the cliffside.
“Witnesses saw the vehicle passing through the parking lot – and it continued to drive,” said de Rutte. “It didn’t stop. There was no acceleration, but there was no braking either.”
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The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office identified a woman in the passenger seat as Teixeira’s daughter, Elizabeth Correia, 41.
Bodega Bay firefighters work to protect the scene from an accident after a vehicle plummeted from Bodega Head’s parking lot in Bodega Bay, California, through a wooden barrier on the left, falling upside down 30 meters from the rocky shore , killing two people in the SUV, Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat via AP)
Both women were found dead when rescue workers descended the side of the cliff and reached the vehicle, which landed on its roof over the rocks about 30 meters below, the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District said. Dozens of people testified. the accident, when bathers and walkers flocked to the Pacific Ocean viewpoint to enjoy the clear weather over the Easter holiday weekend.
De Rutte said a vehicle inspection will be carried out and an autopsy will be carried out to determine whether Teixeira was experiencing a health problem at the time of the incident.
Bodega Bay firefighters work to protect the scene from an accident after a vehicle plummeted from Bodega Head’s parking lot in Bodega Bay, California, through a wooden barrier on the left, falling upside down 30 meters from the rocky shore , killing two people in the SUV, Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat via AP)
The mother and daughter lived in the city of Dublin, in the San Francisco Bay area, about 100 miles south of the crash site. Both were employees of public schools in the bay area, The Mercury News reported, citing relatives and sheriff officials. Teixeira was the primary caretaker of the Elementary School of Montevideo, in the neighboring town of San Ramon, and Correia, a first-grade teacher at the Lydiksen Primary School in Pleasanton.
Teixeira “was just an affectionate, good person, so smiling and happy. He helped everyone,” Erin Aitken, a teacher and former colleague, told Teixeira of his pride when his daughter became a teacher. “She was a great cheerleader for her children. And she clearly loved being around children.”
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Correia’s biography on the school’s website said he taught in Pleasanton, where he grew up, since 2005.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation of the death, which is expected to take two to three months and will include performing autopsies, spokeswoman Misti Wood told Fox News when contacted by phone on Tuesday. The California Highway Patrol is conducting an investigation at the scene of the accident and will determine whether it was intentional or accidental, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.