Crash Kills Daughter of Singer

A 13-year-old Poway girl was killed Sunday afternoon when she was thrown from a van that turned over after being broadsided by a driver who ran a red light, San Diego police said.

Aubree Nelson, 13, was taken to the hospital by helicopter about 2 p.m. after she was ejected from the van as it rolled over at the off-ramp from southbound Interstate 15 to Ted Williams Parkway in Rancho Bernardo. She died of massive head injuries at 7 p.m., Children’s Hospital officials said.

Her father, Wayne Nelson, singer and bass player for the Little River Band, was touring in Europe with her mother, Loretta, authorities said. After being informed of the accident, both parents were flying home on Sunday, they said.

According to police, Helen Bajado, 28, took the southbound exit and drove through a red light, slamming into the van, driven by Robert Whitney, 45, as it was traveling east on Ted Williams Parkway. He was not seriously injured.

Two other passengers in the van, Whitney’s son, Brian, 15, and Aubree’s brother, Bradley, 15, were treated for minor injuries at Pomerado Hospital in Poway.

Bajado and a 9-year-old passenger in her car also suffered minor injuries but did not require hospitalization.

From 1976 to 1982, the Little River Band had a dozen Top 40 hits, including “Reminiscing,” “Lonesome Loser” and “The Night Owls.” Nelson, 42, is the only American member of the Australian group.

He and his family have lived in North County since 1981, the year after he joined the Little River Band. But the group has been plagued by hard luck. The band’s fortunes sunk with the departure of its original lead singer, Glenn Shorrock, in 1983. Then, after two successive albums bombed, the group decided to break up in 1986.

It regrouped a year later when Shorrock returned and put out an album called “Lucky.”