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Updated: Wednesday, Sept. 30
Three separate traffic investigations were running in parallel across rural west Sonoma County on Wednesday after two crashes killed a pedestrian and a driver Monday night just 35 minutes apart, on the heels of a hit-and-run that took the life of a Petaluma woman Sunday. The California Highway Patrol said the incidents are unrelated, but the cluster of deaths has cast a fresh spotlight on nighttime safety along the county's darkest corridors. As of Wednesday morning, officers were still searching for the vehicle involved in the Guerneville Road hit-and-run.
CHP spokesman Officer David deRutte said Tuesday that investigators have found no link among the three events. Each case is being worked by a separate investigative unit, he said, and preliminary findings have not turned up a common cause, weather condition, or roadway defect spanning all of the locations.
The first of Monday night's fatal crashes was reported shortly before 8:40 p.m. on Highway 116, east of Sparkes Road, about two miles south of Sebastopol. The stretch of two-lane highway serves as a main artery for commuters and travelers moving between the Sonoma Valley and the Pacific Coast, and it lacks street lighting for long reaches at night.
According to CHP's preliminary investigation, a Mazda 3 was driving eastbound when a man ran into the roadway and directly into the car's path. He was struck and pronounced dead at the scene. The Mazda's driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation; deRutte said the driver was not speeding and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Highway 116 was closed briefly while investigators documented the area and measured the roadway. Because traffic that evening was light, the closure caused minimal disruption, CHP said.
The name of the pedestrian killed in that crash had not been released as of Wednesday, pending notification of his relatives by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Coroner Unit. Investigators have not yet commented on why the man may have entered the highway.
About 35 minutes later, at approximately 9:15 p.m., CHP received reports of a vehicle crashing into a tree on Tomales Road west of Colorado Avenue, in the small farming community of Two Rock, roughly 10 miles west of downtown Petaluma. Tomales Road winds through dairy country and open pasture, with few streetlights and narrow or nonexistent shoulders in places.
When emergency crews reached the scene, the car was fully engulfed in flames, deRutte said. The driver, the only occupant, was trapped inside and died at the scene. Firefighters put out the blaze after the death was confirmed, and the wreckage was towed for a mechanical inspection.
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday identified the driver as Ulises Vazquez Peres, 33, of Petaluma. Based on the early evidence, CHP believes Peres was heading westbound on Tomales Road when his vehicle drifted off the right side of the roadway and hit the tree.
What caused the car to leave the pavement remains under investigation. CHP is reviewing the vehicle's mechanical condition and will await toxicology results, which in fatal crashes often take weeks to return. Investigators have not indicated whether speed played a role.
Fatal collisions in Sonoma County follow a standard protocol: officers secure the scene, a reconstruction team photographs and measures the roadway, and physical evidence such as tire marks and debris is cataloged before the wreck is removed. With a badly burned vehicle, as in the Tomales Road case, the process leans more on mechanical inspection and the coroner's findings than on visible skid evidence.
The two Monday night crashes followed a fatal hit-and-run that began Sunday evening on the western side of the county. A woman was discovered dead beside Guerneville Road near Frei Road, east of Graton, around 7:45 a.m. Monday, and investigators determined she had been struck hours earlier.
The woman was identified Tuesday as Shannon Skilling, 43, of Petaluma. Investigators believe she was riding a bicycle, or walking it, along the eastbound edge of Guerneville Road when an unknown vehicle hit her and left the area.
About 8:45 p.m. Sunday, a different motorist traveling through the same area struck an object lying in the middle of the road and reported it. No person was found then, and investigators now believe that object was Skilling's bicycle, possibly left in the roadway after the initial collision.
On Monday morning, CHP located a heavily damaged bicycle about 1 to 2 miles from where Skilling's body was found. Investigators think the bicycle was dragged or moved more than a mile east from the likely impact point, which has made it harder to pinpoint exactly where the crash occurred.
CHP said the suspected hit-and-run vehicle may have front-end damage, including a broken right headlight. The agency has not released a make or model, and investigators were continuing to check for surveillance video and witnesses along Guerneville Road.
As of Wednesday, no arrest had been announced in the hit-and-run, deRutte said. He urged anyone who drove Guerneville Road between Sunday evening and Monday morning to check their dashcams, and asked residents with home security footage to contact the CHP Santa Rosa area office.
Under California law, leaving the scene of a crash that causes death or serious injury is a felony punishable by up to four years in state prison. Officials said the case will be forwarded to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office once a suspect is identified.
The three deaths have again put the spotlight on the hazards built into Sonoma County's rural roads. Highways such as 116, Tomales Road, and Guerneville Road carry speed limits of 55 mph, roll through blind curves, and offer little or no lighting, leaving barely any reaction time when a pedestrian, cyclist, or animal appears after dark.
State and federal traffic-safety records consistently show that a disproportionate share of pedestrian deaths in California happen at night on unlit rural roadways. Each of this week's crashes will have its own specific cause, but the shared conditions of darkness, speed, and narrow shoulders are familiar factors in collisions across west Sonoma County.
The Coroner's Office is expected to release the name of the Highway 116 pedestrian once family members have been notified. CHP's reconstruction of the Tomales Road crash will continue in the coming weeks, and anyone with information about any of the three incidents is asked to call the agency's Santa Rosa office.
