Two die in Mendocino County crash, boy in car seat found alive

Two people died in Mendocino County Tuesday night in a crash north of Ukiah on Highway 101, but a child in the SUV survived, the CHP said.

The victims were identified Wednesday as Cheyenne Hoaglen, 25, and Randolph Balladarez, 32, both of Covelo, according to the Mendocino County Coroner’s Office. The two were a couple.

They died in the 9:30 ?p.m. crash near Lake Mendocino Drive, the CHP said in a news release Wednesday.

Hoaglen’s 4-year-old son, who was riding in a car seat, suffered moderate injuries, authorities said.

Hoaglen had been driving a black 2003 Cadillac Escalade, headed north. North of Lake Mendocino Drive, the SUV drove off the east side of the road, dropped down an embankment, hit a metal fence, traveled up a dirt embankment and then overturned onto the driver’s side. The vehicle then hit a parked Caterpillar tractor-scraper parked on a private yard, the CHP said.

First responders found the couple dead from the crash and the boy in the back seat.

The crash was the third this week involving residents from the region.

On Tuesday, the CHP reported a Lake County man and a Napa County man died Monday night in a Napa Valley head-on crash involving a driver who crossed double yellow lines.

On Sunday, two Sonoma County residents died in a San Jose crash.