Crime & Safety
Update: Coroner Identifies Woman in Apparent Suicide Leap
The southbound lanes of Interstate 680 were closed for more than two hours after the incident.
A 25-year-old Concord woman apparently leaped to her death onto a Walnut Creek freeway early Wednesday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
On Thursday, the Contra Costa coroner's office identified the woman as Natalie Nereza.
On her Facebook page, Nereza said she is a transgender who was making the transition from being a man to being a woman. Her hormone therapy began in August 2011.
On Oct. 15, Nereza posted a message saying she was "tired of feeling" like she was an "empty shell" going through one day just to get to the next.
At 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to reports that a body was on the roadway of southbound Interstate 680 near the Highway 24 interchange, said CHP officer John Fransen.
A Sig-alert was issued at 12:34 a.m. blocking all southbound lanes as the crash was investigated. The Sig-alert was lifted and all lanes were reopened at 2:50 a.m.
Authorities say it appears Nereza jumped from the BART train tracks near the Walnut Creek station in an apparent suicide. She was also hit by several cars after landing on the freeway, said Fransen.
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