Valley Village 19-Year-Old And Cat Killed As Car Careens Off PCH

MALIBU, CA —A 19-year-old Valley Village woman and her cat died early Monday after her car careened off Pacific Coast Highway and into the ocean, authorities have confirmed.

Personnel from the Ventura office of the California Highway Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, Ventura County Fire Department, Ventura County Sheriff's office, and Gold Coast Ambulance responded to a call of a car in the water near Sycamore Canyon Beach, near Thornhill Broome Beach and Leo Carillo State Beach, at approximately 1:37 a.m. Monday.

Daniella M. Martir of Valley Village was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release from the Ventura County CHP Office. The death remains under active investigation, according to CHP spokesperson Steve Lutzke. It is currently unknown whether drugs, alcohol, or speeding played a role.

Martir's 2019 Volkswagen Jetta was driving southbound on PCH when it "turned unsafely" and "lost control" before going over the embankment and into the ocean, according to the release. Authorities received a 911 call from a passerby not long after.

Martir was traveling with her cat, who also died, according to a report in The Ventura County Star. The Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet released a cause of death for Martir.

The area around Thornhill Broome Beach has been the site of many fatal accidents in the last year. In October, a 49-year-old Hawthorne man went into cardiac arrest while body boarding. In June, three fishermen were swept out to sea by a sneaker wave just south of Point Mugu, near the intersection of Deer Creek Road and Pacific Coast Highway. Crews of helicopters and boats pulled them out of the water, but they died shortly after.