Huntington Beach Girl, 4, Killed in Cliff Plunge

The father of a young Huntington Beach girl who fell 300 feet to her death from a cliff at the Palos Verdes Peninsula told police he and his daughter were playing when she slipped off the edge of the rocky bluff, authorities said Thursday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Danny Smith said Cameron Brown, 39, told detectives that he was sitting on the cliff’s edge taking in the ocean view Wednesday when his restless daughter, who was walking behind him, slipped and fell.

Brown told authorities he did not have time to grab 4-year-old Lauren Key-Marer.

Brown said he used the cellular telephone of a passerby to call 911. Police found the girl lying on the rocks near the water below.

Detectives said Brown, who was described as distraught during questioning, is not considered a crime suspect. However, they did not rule out further interviews with him.

In the Huntington Beach neighborhood where the girl lived with her mother, residents were shocked by the death.

A neighbor said mother and daughter were always together. In recent weeks the mother was often seen teaching her daughter how to roller-blade on the street in front of their modest ranch-style home. The daughter was described as a happy and friendly little girl who was well-looked-after by her mother and stepfather, neighbors said.

On Thursday, detectives traversed the narrow trail leading to Inspiration Point near Portuguese Bend, where the tragedy occurred. They said they were surprised that a parent would take a child to such a dangerous place.

“There’s no way in the world I would expect any person to be up here with a child, especially not one under their grasp or control,” Smith said. “It’s incredible. Just to get to the trail is enough to make one’s stomach turn.”

Brown told detectives that he and his daughter had walked for more than a mile on a winding trail from a park west of the point because, he said, his daughter liked to hike. Brown said they had ventured to the cliff side of the trail when the accident occurred.