Detectives Seek Clues in Death of Mother, Autistic Son

Detectives investigating the deaths of a Moorpark mother and her autistic son said Thursday they have no shortage of theories about what sent Jacqueline and Garett Bickmann plunging from a freeway bridge after a flat tire stranded their vehicle midway across the span.

A vicious gust from a truck rumbling across a high bridge? An autistic child too close to the bridge’s edge? Suicide or foul play?

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department still has no witnesses and few clues as to what happened. A plea for the public’s help produced few phone calls and only one person who saw Bickmann’s white GMC Jimmy early Wednesday.

“We can speculate all day long,” said Cpt. Larry Robertson. “But we just don’t know.”

Investigators thus found themselves sifting through small pieces of information, searching for clues as to why the mother and son fell from the bridge connecting California 23 and the Simi Valley Freeway.

Deputies have not been able to locate the 29-year-old Bickmann’s purse, which they believe she took with her when she left the family’s home about 2 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators say it could have been taken from the vehicle or from the ground below, where rescuers found the bodies.

An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy reported seeing the vehicle, its emergency lights flashing, pulled over on the bridge about 2:35 a.m. Although the deputy did not see the woman or the 4-year-old, investigators said the sighting at least narrows the time in which the incident could have happened. California Highway Patrol officers found the bodies at 3:17 a.m.

Deputies planned to reexamine the vehicle, hoping to find what made the tire deflate.

Officials also said that deputies were called twice in recent years to the Moorpark home of Jacqueline and Lawrence Bickmann, but would not release any details, saying that the records were part of the current investigation.

Cathi Nye, outgoing president of the Ventura County Autism Society, said she doubted that Garett, the autistic 4-year-old, could have put his mother in danger by climbing a low protective wall on the bridge. “I’ve heard he wasn’t a climber,” Nye said, adding that Bickmann had attended one of the society’s recent meetings and had written the American Autism Society for information about available services.

None of those pieces of information left investigators with a clear idea of what might have happened on the darkened bridge, where the vehicle stopped next to a low protective wall. The purse, for example, could have been taken from the abandoned Jimmy, which was left unlocked, Robertson said--but the vehicle’s keys were found lying undisturbed on the floor inside.

The purse could also have fallen with Bickmann, landing somewhere in the bushes lining the Arroyo Simi, and been taken by someone walking through the area. Robertson noted that migrant workers sometimes use the arroyo’s banks as a walkway into town.

Although investigators have not ruled out the possibility that Bickmann might have taken her own life, Robertson said they found no suicide note. Instead, they found a letter at home, saying she was taking the boy for a drive.

In the Bickmanns’ upscale neighborhood, where the median income is more than $73,900, according to the most recent census, neighbors appeared stunned by the incident, some visibly shaking and others with tear-reddened eyes. “Nobody likes to see a regular part of their lives disappear,” one said.

Times staff writer Kate Folmar contributed to this report.