Two Killed in Newport Beach Car Crash

Police on Tuesday were trying to determine the cause of a four-car collision in which two elderly women were killed and four other people were injured.

The two women and their husbands were visiting Orange County from Salt Lake City when their dark-blue Oldsmobile was struck by a gray Chevrolet Blazer about 11:15 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Jamboree Road and East Coast Highway, police said.

Rosebud Jacobson, 72, and Mary Riley, 77, died of injuries they received, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

Leo Jacobson, 77, the driver of the Oldsmobile, was flown by helicopter to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with injuries to his chest, cheekbone and shoulder. He was listed in stable condition.

John Riley, 77, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange with fractured ribs and a cut to the ear. His condition was also listed as stable.

A fifth person in the Oldsmobile, Irene Buehner, 77, who has residences in Newport Beach and Salt Lake City, was listed in fair condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Gonis said the Oldsmobile was turning left onto Jamboree from Coast Highway when it was struck broadside by the Blazer, driven by James Ireland, 23, of Corona del Mar. The Oldsmobile left the road and bounced 50 feet down an embankment before being stopped by a fence at the rear of the Bayside Shopping Center. Ireland and a passenger in his vehicle were unhurt.

Two other vehicles that were stopped at the intersection for a red light were struck by the Blazer, Gonis said. An unidentified occupant of one of these vehicles received head cuts and was treated at Hoag Hospital and released.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, Gonis said.