CA CA - Brian Fernandez, 21, & Olivia Gonzalez (dec'd), 20, Los Angeles, 23 Dec 2016

[eekasaur]

Do we know if he had his phone, though? What if it was in the car? He'd have no way of calling 911.

In the vein of considering all possibilities...let's say he did survive and climbed up. Perhaps he was hurt and collapsed on the side of the road after walking a bit? That would put his final resting place at a different location, perhaps one that hasn't been searched yet.

 

[turanna25]

When looking at the area the car supposedly went through and over the cliff... I'm trying to picture how the car could have hydroplaned or slid out of control and perfectly through the opening between the tree stumps or trees and over the cliff... shouldn't there be some damage to the trees or the tree stumps? Its not like you're coming out of a 90 degree turn coming from either direction.. Sorry... I'm probably overthinking it.. but its just been bothering me. I made this drive a few months ago with my friend and distinctly remember this area.. I don't remember that being an area of concern when we were driving .. there were plenty of areas of concern during our drive up the coast that day due to lack of cell phone service, fog, the smoke from the fire in the area, construction, and crazy drivers flying around other cars.. I guess I'm just trying to make sense of it

 

[Vail]

There is a spot right where the guardrail ends where there is a gap between the trees. I imagine they have a good idea where it went down based on damage to the trees and the natural path from the car to the top. They haven't really said whether they found skid marks or damage to the guardrail (they could have hit it, slid along it, then down the cliff when the guard rail ran out). If there was fog that night, it isn't farfetched, and this is an area where there could have been an animal in the road, or someone fell asleep at the wheel or any number of reasons accidents happen.

When looking at the area the car supposedly went through and over the cliff... I'm trying to picture how the car could have hydroplaned or slid out of control and perfectly through the opening between the tree stumps or trees and over the cliff... shouldn't there be some damage to the trees or the tree stumps? Its not like you're coming out of a 90 degree turn coming from either direction.. Sorry... I'm probably overthinking it.. but its just been bothering me. I made this drive a few months ago with my friend and distinctly remember this area.. I don't remember that being an area of concern when we were driving .. there were plenty of areas of concern during our drive up the coast that day due to lack of cell phone service, fog, the smoke from the fire in the area, construction, and crazy drivers flying around other cars.. I guess I'm just trying to make sense of it

 

[LinasK]

There is a spot right where the guardrail ends where there is a gap between the trees. I imagine they have a good idea where it went down based on damage to the trees and the natural path from the car to the top. They haven't really said whether they found skid marks or damage to the guardrail (they could have hit it, slid along it, then down the cliff when the guard rail ran out). If there was fog that night, it isn't farfetched, and this is an area where there could have been an animal in the road, or someone fell asleep at the wheel or any number of reasons accidents happen.

I went to Ragged Point and the crash site yesterday and searched for Brian. Day 4, and the sheriff I spoke with said with four divers and the helicopter, there is still no sign of Brian. The area where the car went off is interesting. There is only one spot on the vista where the car could have gone off the edge. It would have rolled 20 ft before ever sloping down towards the edge. There are four tree stumps and two full grown trees at the cliffs edge to stop cars from going over. There was no rain that day and while they found Olivia and two dogs 10 days after the accident, there had been no sight of Brian. Still looking. I have a couple of thoughts after visiting the site and speaking with different people out there. I've been a local here my whole life. There had never been an accident at that spot.


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BBM. And yet, according to what Boopsquared is saying, it sounds awfully planned to have the car just happen to go over at this particular spot, no damage to the trees, no skid marks reported so far...

 

[Boopsquared]

No skid marks. It's a dirt and paved area. We've had a ton of rain since the accident; any skid marks are long gone. However, the roots to the far right (facing the ocean) were definitely scuffed and the tree at the cliff in front of it had three broken branches. We searched the beach for hours. Found a pair of socks with dog fur (balled together, may have flown out of the car or not related at all.) This is not an area there should have been an accident. The possibility I came up with was that maybe Olivia and Brian pulled over to take a nap on there way to Big Sur (headed north) and one of the dogs jumped up front and shifted the gears into neutral or drive, sending the car rolling before anyone could wake up and notice. I am concerned though that they haven't found Brian. But if they were sleeping, more than likely their seat belts were off.


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[Vail]

No skid marks. It's a dirt and paved area. We've had a ton of rain since the accident; any skid marks are long gone. However, the roots to the far right (facing the ocean) were definitely scuffed and the tree at the cliff in front of it had three broken branches. We searched the beach for hours. Found a pair of socks with dog fur (balled together, may have flown out of the car or not related at all.) This is not an area there should have been an accident. The possibility I came up with was that maybe Olivia and Brian pulled over to take a nap on there way to Big Sur (headed north) and one of the dogs jumped up front and shifted the gears into neutral or drive, sending the car rolling before anyone could wake up and notice. I am concerned though that they haven't found Brian. But if they were sleeping, more than likely their seat belts were off.


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So you definitely think they went over from the lookout and not from the road?

 

[Boopsquared]

100% sure. There is about 20-30 feet from the road to the cliff in this particular area. It's a vista overlook with barriers to prevent accidents like this.


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[GigTu]

So you definitely think they went over from the lookout and not from the road?

There is a small access road that is not viewable from the road maps (highlighted in pink), but can be seen from an arial perspective. Other than possibly exiting from that little road, it makes no sense for the car to end up strait down below that lookout except that it rolled off from up there.

Do we know the exact location the wreckage was found?

 

[marinthinker]

There is a small access road that is not viewable from the road maps (highlighted in pink), but can be seen from an arial perspective. Other than possibly exiting from that little road, it makes no sense for the car to end up strait down below that lookout except that it rolled off from up there.

Do we know the exact location the wreckage was found?

There are three "Ragged Points" in the area. The northern one is Cal Poly Ragged Point Biological Sciences. The middle one is Ragged Point Inn and Resort. The southern one is Ragged Point Scenic View Parking Lot. They went over the cliff at the Scenic View Parking Lot.

Ragged Point Scenic View Parking Lot
https://goo.gl/maps/VRXzxshVHj42

 

[FlossyMay]

So this is where they went over the side?

 

[marinthinker]

So this is where they went over the side?

Yes, that's the place. It's a parking lot.

 

[FlossyMay]

The road is pretty straight and a rock slide doesn't look possible. They must have pulled into the viewing area and then something went terribly wrong.

 

[Vail]

Thanks for the insight and the side view photo - that is super helpful. Looking at the rock configuration, it is clear the landed in the V shape almost directly in line with the white line in the photo vs the path down from where the guard rail ends (which has no "cup" of rocks). I wonder if the fog was thick enough that they turned in there and misjudged the edge? Could the space between trees have looked like an access road going down? Blindly following GPS? I hope they can put together some kind of theory for what happened - not having any idea how this occurred must be a nightmare for the families.

 

[allmybecsloveme]

I was pretty sure this was an accident, but now seeing the parking lot where they went off the cliff in relation to the road...something is very wrong here. Especially since he has not been found.

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[missgulfsouth]

I was pretty sure this was an accident, but now seeing the parking lot where they went off the cliff in relation to the road...something is very wrong here. Especially since he has not been found.

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IF it's staged, where would he be? LE would find him.

Also, someone said she was going to break up with him. Who goes on a trip to Big Sur to break up? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? :/

 

[marinthinker]

The road is pretty straight and a rock slide doesn't look possible. They must have pulled into the viewing area and then something went terribly wrong.

FlossyMay - I have two posts below that have links to Google that allow you to "drive the road" around the Parking Lot. We don't know if they went there from the north bound or south bound lane. So, I included both options. Drivers need to turn into the lot and can park either parallel or perpendicular to the "edge". View Spots are designed to be safe. This is the first "over the side" accident at this site. Emphasis added by me.

Vehicle found off Highway 1 at Ragged Point
Posted: Jan 03, 2017 4:27 PM PST
Updated: Jan 03, 2017 7:33 PM PST
By KSBY Staff
http://www.ksby.com/story/34176354/vehicle-found-off-highway-1-at-ragged-point

This news report confirms that "The investigation on the highway is concentrated at a vista point, where there is no guardrail." I agree with your analysis that that would be the "Ragged Point - Scenic View" so your map is spot on.​

This is a far view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the north:
https://goo.gl/maps/1rhaWyGiZxx

This is a near view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the north:
https://goo.gl/maps/byd7JZghgyj

This is the view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the south:
https://goo.gl/maps/oNqLJEYXFCk

The highway is fairly straight around the "View Spot". I makes me wonder what might have happened for their car to go "over the side" here. It's all very sad.

KSBY
Body recovered from crash near Ragged Point; car possibly linked to missing couple
Posted: Jan 03, 2017 9:48 PM PST
Updated: Jan 03, 2017 11:52 PM PST
By Angel Russell

http://www.ksby.com/story/34177759/...d-point-car-possibly-linked-to-missing-couple

You can see the "stumps" and trees to the right of the stumps in the video at KSBY. The "View Spot" is large and the stumps are not next to the actual highway. They looked inside the car Tuesday and it appeared to have no one in it.​

Google Image of Stumps at the "View Spot"
https://goo.gl/maps/H64W2zMeGsL2

This is a far view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the north, stumps are visible through the trees:
https://goo.gl/maps/1rhaWyGiZxx

This is a near view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the north, stumps are visible through the trees:
https://goo.gl/maps/byd7JZghgyj

This is a far view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the south, stumps are not visible:
https://goo.gl/maps/oNqLJEYXFCk

This is a near view of the "View Spot" as you would approach it from the south, stumps are visible:
https://goo.gl/maps/we7Q8agkey52

 

[LinasK]

IF it's staged, where would he be? LE would find him.

Also, someone said she was going to break up with him. Who goes on a trip to Big Sur to break up? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? :/

Not necessarily, he had a head start, long before Olivia was found. He could be anywhere. Bryce Laspisa was never found and could have walked away from his life.

As to why she went with him, I can't speak for her mental state. It's not something I would have ever done. Maybe he promised her something. Maybe it was one last chance for romance or a long drive to talk things out...:thinking:

 

[missgulfsouth]

Not necessarily, he had a head start, long before Olivia was found. He could be anywhere. Bryce Laspisa was never found and could have walked away from his life.

As to why she went with him, I can't speak for her mental state. It's not something I would have ever done. Maybe he promised her something. Maybe it was one last chance for romance or a long drive to talk things out...

I guess I would imagine him hiding out with family, but LE would be onto that. I wonder if he has family in another country? But yeah, this entire situation would require changing his identity ... everything.

 

[LinasK]

I guess I would imagine him hiding out with family, but LE would be onto that. I wonder if he has family in another country? But yeah, this entire situation would require changing his identity ... everything.

Well, North Hollywood is out, but maybe he has family in Mexico? Maybe he has camping gear on him, although I wouldn't want to be camping in the rain. Rain camping is no fun- did it for one night unexpectedly, wasn't forecast to rain. The tent leaked and we were wet and cold, miserable. California has had lots of rain, and snow, in the last couple of weeks.

 

[flower_girl]

Perhaps they pulled up to the viewpoint and were excited to get out, or rushing to let the dogs out to go to the bathroom, and were out of their normal routine, so they left the car in drive and it rolled? I always put it in park -> pull up the e-break, then take my key out, but sometimes if something is weird or my dog is with me I forget to put the e-break on or something.