Friend’s Search Turns Up 2 Bodies
A motorist found the bodies of two friends Monday near the wreckage of their Jeep, which plunged 600 feet down a canyon along a rural road in the rugged Cleveland National Forest, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The pair, last heard from Friday, were identified as Matthew Fullerton, 30, and Kelly Tighe, 26. Neither the CHP nor the Orange County coroner’s office could say where Fullerton and Tighe lived.
CHP investigators said the friend, whose name was not released, worried after not hearing from the man and woman since Friday evening and set out Monday to retrace their last known route -- east on Rancho Carillo Road off the winding Ortega Highway.
About 9:30 a.m., the friend spotted tire tracks that disappeared over the edge of an embankment about four miles east of the highway. The friend followed the trail to the bodies, which had been ejected from the vehicle.
Officials do not know who was driving but said the Jeep belonged to Fullerton. Investigators do not yet know how fast they were traveling, but weather and road conditions were clear that evening, according to the CHP.
It is unclear how or why the vehicle left the road and went down the embankment or whether the pair had been wearing seat belts.
The deaths and the crash are under investigation, CHP officials said.
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