Woman Dies After Skidding Off Highway 154

A 24-year-old Solvang woman was killed last night, May 16, when she lost control of her car on Highway 154 and plummeted 350 feet down a cliff.

According to a California Highway Patrol report, the victim – Socorro Villa – was driving her father’s Jeep at around 10:30 p.m. on the mountain pass one mile east of Old San Marcos Road. As Villa took a sharp curve in the rainy weather, witnesses saw her car lose traction and begin to fish tail.

Villa’s car careened off the roadway and over the edge of a cliff. Witnesses called 911, and rescue teams climbed down to the Jeep but discovered Villa had succumbed to her injuries.