Search continues for 2 kids swept by ocean in Sonoma County
JENNER, Calif. — Authorities were searching Tuesday for two children who were swept off their feet by a powerful wave along with their parents over the weekend. Their mother was able to make it to shore, but their father died trying to save them.
Their father, Michael Wyman, 40, drowned Sunday trying to save his 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter at Blind Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park, just south of the city of Jenner.
A relative told the Press Democrat the mother had loved ones at her side but was not able to speak publicly of her loss. The family had moved from Oakland to Petaluma only a few months ago in search of more open space and a simpler, more rural life as the coronavirus pandemic dragged on, a family friend told the newspaper.
California State Park personnel said the family was visiting
the beach during several days of large swells that made the ocean perilous for visitors. Officials said heavy seas with waves that could reach up to 22 feet and wind gusts expected to exceed 40 mph were forecast in Northern California through Tuesday night.
“For small children, fully clothed, it’s obviously very dangerous,” State Park Ranger Sgt. Tim Murphy said.
Wyman reportedly had a hold of one of his children at one point but lost his grasp before both were sucked into the waves. Bystanders helped his wife, who made it to shore, to pull Wyman from the water.
They attempted to revive him before emergency personnel arrived and took over. But he was pronounced dead at the scene.
NEWBURY PARK — A motorist was found dead in a wrecked pickup truck hidden by brush along a Southern California highway.
The driver of a big rig sitting high up was able to spot the crash Monday morning along the U.S. 101 freeway in Newbury Park and alert authorities, the Ventura County Star reported.
The pickup driver was pronounced dead at the scene, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ryan Ayers. The man was identified as a 53-year-old Ventura resident.
Investigators were trying to determine when between Sunday night and Monday morning the wreck occurred.
“There’s a lot of tall brush in this location,” Ayers said. “It’s unclear exactly when the crash happened.”
SACRAMENTO — An inmate who spent nearly three decades on California’s death row has died after being found in his cell, authorities said.
Jose Francisco Guerra, 61, was pronounced dead on Monday afternoon after he was found unresponsive alone in his cell at San Quentin State Prison, state prison officials said.
The cause of his death will be determined by an autopsy but there were no signs of foul play.
Guerra was sent to the nation’s largest death row in 1993 after being convicted of first-degree murder of Kathleen Powell. Powell was stabbed to death at her Los Angeles home in 1990.