Moorpark Girl Dies After Being Struck by Train
A 17-year-old Moorpark girl, apparently trapped on a train trestle she used as a shortcut, was struck and killed by a freight train sometime after midnight Monday, authorities said.
Metrolink commuter service eastbound from Ventura through the San Fernando Valley was suspended for more than two hours after the body of Christine Ceja was discovered about 5:15 a.m.
A conductor on a Metrolink commuter train saw the body on the edge of the city’s downtown area, less than a mile from Christine’s home.
A student at Moorpark Community School, she was apparently headed home from a late-night gathering with friends when she was hit, said Sgt. Terry Hughes of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators were unable to pinpoint when she was struck, Hughes said, but believe it was after midnight. Two westbound Southern Pacific Railroad freight trains came through the city between midnight and 5 a.m., authorities said.
The railroad trestle, which crosses the Arroyo Simi, is a common shortcut for residents of Moorpark’s La Colonia neighborhood.
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