Somber Vigil Held For Long Beach Woman Found Dead In Los Cerritos Channel
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Friends and family gathered in Long Beach Sunday night to remember a 20-year-old women who was missing Saturday.
Ashlee Armond was found Sunday morning -- submerged in her car in a Los Cerritos channel.
Armond, the daughter of a Long Beach Police detective, apparently crossed a cul-de-sac and accidentally drove into the channel at 5th and Silvera.
KCAL9's Erica Nochlin attended the somber candlelight vigil.
"There was so much emotion it is clear how loved Armond was and how much she will be missed," Nochlin reported.
Her friends and family gathered just beyond the curb where police believe she crashed through a fence and landed in the water below a hill.
It's a tragic accident her friends are having trouble coming to grips with.
"This is unreal, still feels unreal, it's not like her, she's the most responsible person I know," said Armond's best friend Jessica Reppucci.
Armond was reportedly leaving a friend's house Friday night and on her way to her boyfriend's when the accident occurred.
Friends are now left to write her messages and thoughts and prayers.
Several Long Beach police officers, as well as their chief, also came to show their respects.
"You laugh together, you bleed together and you cry together, so at times when you have a very tragic situation like this we do everything we can to support each other," said Robert Luna, Chief of Police.
Luna confirmed to Nochlin that Armond's father, veteran officer Richard Armond, was out searching for her and was among the officers who helped find the missing woman.
"I just want her back," a cousin whispered softly.
He welcomed the support of her friends.
"Everything, everything is going to remind me of her, I love her so much, she's the most beautiful person in my world," said Reppucci.
While police believe Armond died because of a tragic wrong turn, the cause of the accident remains under investigation.
