Local News in Brief : Mojave Drowning Victims Identified
A prominent Torrance couple were identified Tuesday as the drowning victims of a weekend flash flood in the Mojave Desert that swept their Jeep off California 14 into a ravine, where the current carried it for more than a mile.
The Kern County coroner’s office said Robert and Juanita Mantovani, both 44, died in the flood early Sunday evening that caused the California Highway Patrol to close the road from 7 p.m. until midnight and stranded about 40 vehicles.
Juanita Mantovani was dean of undergraduate studies and associate professor of English at Cal State L.A., supervising instruction for the state school’s 15,000 undergraduates.
Robert Mantovani was a past president of the Riviera Homeowners Assn.
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