2 dead in separate Huntington Beach incidents ID’d, third body discovered

Coroner’s officials released information on a man and a woman who died last week in two separate incidents investigated by Huntington Beach police — a crash involving a pedestrian and an apparent suicide — while a third death was reported at a local park Monday.

The first incident happened shortly after midnight April 16, near Beach Boulevard and Talbert Avenue, when a vehicle traveling northbound on Beach struck a pedestrian who was standing in a traffic lane just north of the intersection, a police spokeswoman reported last week.

Todd Anthony Wilkins, 45, was crossing Beach Boulevard, just north of Talbert Avenue, Wednesday when he was struck by a northbound vehicle, police said.

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The driver, a 73-year-old Santa Ana man, remained on scene and cooperated with police, who determined impairment did not appear to be a factor in the crash.

The pedestrian was identified by coroner’s officials as 45-year-old Todd Anthony Wilkins, according to Sgt. Gerard McCann of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Although Wilkins had initially been thought to have connections to the city of Stanton, McCann said Tuesday he did not have a fixed residence at the time of the incident.

Several hours after the collision, Huntington Beach police received a call about a woman’s body discovered lying on the beach near Lifeguard Tower No. 8 in what appeared to have been a suicide, HBPD spokeswoman Jessica Cuchilla confirmed.

The body of an unidentified woman was discovered near Huntington Beach’s Lifeguard Tower No, 8, north of the city pier. Police believe the death was a suicide.

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McCann confirmed Friday that coroner’s officials had identified the decedent as a 45-year-old Whittier resident. The cause of death was not yet determined.

A second suicide was discovered Monday afternoon in Huntington Beach’s Wieder Park, located on Lynn Lane, where someone heard a gunshot and called police shortly before 4 p.m., according to Cuchilla.

“An adult female was located with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the gun was located at the scene,” she said Tuesday.

The spokeswoman was unable to provide further details about where in the park the incident took place. McCann confirmed the woman had been identified by the coroner’s office as a 56-year-old Huntington Beach resident.