Wreck Unfound for 30 Hours : Van Leaves Freeway, Crashes; Woman Dies

It was after 1 a.m. Sunday when Gail Brown called her parents in San Juan Capistrano to say she was on her way home after helping a friend who worked at a pizza parlor in Fullerton.

The 23-year-old Saddleback College student never arrived.

About 3 a.m., Shirley Brown called sheriff’s deputies to report her daughter missing. Authorities said the mother was concerned because of the Jan. 18 murder of Robbin Brandley, also a Saddleback College student, and because her daughter was conscientious about getting home at night.

But it wasn’t until Monday morning that the mystery of Gail Brown’s disappearance was solved.

An employee arriving for work at a tile supply store beside the San Diego Freeway spotted Brown’s van standing on its nose, jammed into a small space between the building and a plumbing company next door.

Brown had died instantly, according to coroner’s investigators, after being thrown from the van, which was hidden from passers-by for 30 hours, shrouded by the two buildings and some eucalyptus trees.

According to California Highway Patrol Officer John Fallan, Brown was traveling south on the freeway when, for no apparent reason, her van veered off the road about a quarter of a mile south of Avery Parkway.

The van plunged down an embankment and then struck a freeway perimeter fence that lofted it into the air and sent it crashing down on its nose between the buildings.

“It was really kind of sad because from all we’ve learned, she was a very hard-working girl,” said CHP Officer Ken Daily. “Not only was she helping her friend; she was going to college and was apparently getting ready to take over the family’s vending machine business from her father, who has terminal cancer.

“The only possible explanation is that she may have fallen asleep,” he said.