Victim of Fatal Pileup on Freeway Identified

A woman who died Tuesday when her sedan was trapped beneath burning wreckage on the Ventura Freeway has been identified as 73-year-old Sophia Colling of Camarillo.

Her badly burned body was found under four charred vehicles that collided and forced the shutdown of the freeway’s northbound lanes for several hours.

On Wednesday, investigators were still trying to determine why a driverless maintenance truck rolled down an embankment onto the freeway, triggering the crash.

California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Stuva said investigators were checking to see if the parking brake was set or if there was a mechanical malfunction. Crews with the truck’s owner, Fillmore-based Super Seal and Stripe Co., were working near the vehicle at the time of the incident.

The pileup Tuesday afternoon sent black smoke hundreds of feet into the air, snarled traffic for more than 10 miles and jammed Camarillo streets with diverted traffic.

Colling, who was going shopping, died immediately when her Toyota Camry collided with the other vehicles.

California Department of Transportation officials said they will shut down the northbound freeway between Las Posas Road and Central Avenue from 5 to 10 a.m. Sunday so CHP crash investigators can do more work at the scene.

At the time of the crash, crews were working to bring sidewalk curbs into compliance with federal disability regulations, said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

Super Seal and Stripe was paid $10,000 to complete the project as a subcontractor for Metropole, a Lake Forest construction company. Tuesday was the final day of the project, Tiritilli said.

Caltrans and Metropole officials met before work began to discuss all aspects of the project, including safety issues, Tiritilli said. “The investigation will be a coordinated effort with the California Highway Patrol legal department,” she said. “We will . . . look at if there was anything we could have done.”

Metropole official Barry Semnani said the firm has never had a serious accident with a subcontractor.