Ventura Freeway Crash Victims Identified

The woman killed by a suspected drunken driver and car thief on the Ventura Freeway was identified by authorities Saturday as 41-year-old Patricia Higbie, of Goleta. The suspect, identified as William Edward Jarrett, was killed when he was struck by another vehicle as he tried to run from the scene.

Higbie is survived by her husband, Charles, who spent Saturday shuttling between hospitals where the couple’s two children were taken after the Friday night crash, said Mitch Breese with the Ventura County coroner’s office. Higbie died of chest and abdominal injuries, Breese said.

Both children were listed in critical condition, although they had improved slightly Saturday, said California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Neumann.

The father is “hanging in there, doing the best he can,” Neumann said.

Charles Higbie Jr., 8, is in the pediatric intensive care unit at Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital, a spokeswoman there said. His younger sister, 6-year-old Tricia Higbie, was in Ventura County Medical Center’s intensive care unit. Both suffered head and internal injuries in the crash, Neumann said.

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Jarrett, 43, had a Texas driver’s license but apparently had been living in the Santa Barbara area. He died after he tried to escape from people who had detained him immediately after the accident and was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he ran across the northbound lanes of Ventura Freeway near the Del Norte Boulevard offramp in Oxnard.

An autopsy conducted Saturday showed Jarrett died of traumatic head injuries.

The white Mercury Capri he was driving was reported stolen from an unlocked garage on Valerio Street in Santa Barbara that afternoon, said a Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman.

Witnesses said Jarrett was speeding south on the Ventura Freeway about 90 mph when the car sideswiped Higbie’s station wagon. Both drivers lost control of the vehicles, which slammed into separate large eucalyptus trees.

Neumann said he discovered an empty 24-ounce can of beer and an unopened bottle of wine on the floor of the car after the 7 p.m. accident.

“He definitely reeked of [alcohol],” Neumann said.

Higbie was en route to visit relatives in the Los Angeles area at the time of the crash, he said. The Higbies’ family dog, a black Labrador, also died in the accident.

“The dog went everywhere with the kids,” Neumann said.