Woman's Body Found Along Colorado River Identified As Ventura Student Killed In 2018 Boat Crash
VENTURA (CBSLA) — The body of a woman recovered from the California shoreline of the Colorado River this month has been identified as a Ventura college student who went missing after the boat she was in crashed in 2018.
Authorities used dental records Thursday to identify the remains as 26-year-old Raegan Heitzig. The body was found on July 2 on the California shoreline of the Colorado River about half a mile south of Blankenship Bend.
Heitzig was a passenger on one of two boats that collided head-on on Sept. 1, 2018 on a stretch of river between Pirates Cove and the Topack Marina, north of Lake Havasu and south of Needles, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. According to the Charley Project, a total of 16 people were ejected from the impact of the crash and thrown into the water. None of them were wearing life jackets.
Twelve people were rescued, and four were killed. The bodies of three people were recovered in the days after the crash, but Heitzig was not found until this month.
At the time of her death, Heitzig was a student studying psychology at California State University, Channel Islands, according to the Charley Project.
