A 67-year-old woman and a 16-year-old who were killed when their vehicles crashed head-on on Interstate 5 in Chula Vista were identified Thursday by family and authorities.
Eileen Crawford, 67, was driving a Honda Civic that entered the southbound lanes of I-5 near the San Ysidro Port of Entry off of Camino del la Plaza around 3 a.m. Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
The vehicle traveled six miles the wrong way before crashing into a Dodge Challenger driven by Ryder Shoup, 16, a new father from Imperial Beach who attended Mar Vista High School.
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Francisco Beltran, the neighbor of Crawford and a close friend said she was receiving radiation treatments for cancer and that she sometimes had moments of forgetfulness.
"Sometimes, she went south, you know, kind of blank-minded and just take off," Francisco Beltran's sister, Nancy, said about her friend.
Whether that was the case Wednesday morning, CHP says the cause has not been determined.
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The death of the 16-year-old Mar Vista High School student spread quickly on social media. That's how his close friend from JV football found out.
"When I found out, my heart dropped," Gilbert Solis said. "He would always have a smile on that face on the field or on the sideline. He would always have a big white smile on his face."
Late on Thursday afternoon, the city of Imperial Beach released the following statement regarding Shoup's death:
"The city of Imperial Beach is deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of Ryder Shoup, who was a member of our community and served in the city’s junior lifeguard program for many years. His instructors knew him as a great kid who was well liked. Ryder was very athletic, competitive and always had a smile on his face. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Ryder’s family and friends during this difficult time."
CHP said they received calls from multiple people reporting a wrong-way driver. The crash happened about 3 minutes after the first 911 call. The Dodge caught fire and became fully engulfed in flames. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles and died at the scene, CHP said.
A toxicology report is pending from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Officer to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash.
All lanes of southbound I-5, north of J Street, were closed for several hours during the investigation, which was ongoing Wednesday.
The South Bay has had several other wrong-way crashes near the border in recent years, including one in San Ysidro in 2023 and another that killed two San Diego police detectives in 2021. The week of the latter fatal crash saw four deadly wrong-way crashes.
Caltrans has placed flashing LED "Do Not Enter" and "Wrong Way" signs at exits across San Diego County to prevent crashes like this. Red reflective pavement has also been used to catch a driver's attention that they're going the wrong direction. Caltrans said a pilot program of the tools showed a 44-64% reduction in wrong-way incidents.
Anyone with information about the crash can contact San Diego CHP at (858) 293-6000.
