Child Dies When Suspect in Orange Slaying Drives Off Cliff
A suspect in the murder of an Orange woman, missing since Tuesday along with their 13-month-old child, drove off a cliff on Ortega Highway in Riverside County on Wednesday, killing the child.
The body of Nicholas Stewart was found about 9:30 a.m. by California Highway Patrol officers 200 feet above a ravine where the car had landed, said Mark Lohman, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigator.
Nicholas’ father, Danny Eugene Stewart, 23, remained in stable condition at Riverside County Hospital. He was arrested on suspicion of murder in the beating death of his 19-year-old girlfriend, Megan Michelle Whalley.
Her body was found Tuesday on her bedroom floor. Police said Wednesday that it appeared no weapon had been used.
“It looks like she was killed just by physical force,” said Sgt. Barry Weinstein of the Orange Police Department.
Whalley’s mother, Susan Whalley, found the body in the house they shared. She also discovered that the infant was missing along with the family’s sedan, police said.
Stewart suffered from neck and back injuries and minor fractures.
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