A young woman was killed in a solo vehicle crash near the intersection of Copper Hill Drive and McBean Parkway at approximately 4 a.m. Saturday, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials.
The driver of the car was later identified as 21-year-old Newhall resident Mayleigh Beaver by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner/Coroner’s office.
By Monday, a makeshift memorial had been set up where the crash occurred – decorated with flowers, candles and notes. Mason Booth, who said he knew Beaver and had briefly dated her, placed some flowers at the memorial and lit one of the candles that had gone out.
He climbed over the fence and sat on the concrete embankment Beaver had gone over, staring at what was left of the scene where she had crashed. He tearfully described what type of person she was.
“We talked for a while, then dated for two months,” said Booth. “She was the most caring and compassionate person you’d ever know.”
Booth also said she was beautiful and had recently become a mother.
By Monday night the memorial had grown with more flowers, lights and decorations. Several friends had gathered to remember her.
“She had a lot of friends and everybody loved her,” said a friend of hers at the memorial, who declined to provide his name.
Beaver appeared to have been travelling westbound on Copper Hill Drive when she went through a guardrail just west of Copper Hill’s intersection with McBean Parkway. She missed the bridge that crosses the San Francisquito creek bed and plunged approximately 40 feet off an embankment.
Supervising Fire Dispatcher Velderrain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department confirmed there was only one vehicle involved and no one was transported from the scene. A vehicle from the L.A. County Coroner’s Office was at the scene Saturday morning. Sheriff’s deputies on the scene said one female occupant had been in the vehicle.
Additional reporting by Oscar Sol.
