{"id":112888,"date":"2025-12-29T23:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112888\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T23:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:46:06","slug":"flood-in-lancaster-claims-life-of-navy-veteran-to-be-buried-at-bakersfield-natl-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112888\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood in Lancaster claims life of Navy veteran, to be buried at Bakersfield Nat’l Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 68-year-old Navy veteran, Robert “Jerry” Hiller, died on Christmas Eve after his vehicle was swept away in a flood in Lancaster, according to a GoFundMe page and CBS News. Hiller was identified through the website<\/a>, which described his passing as “a heartbreaking shock to all who loved him.” <\/p>\n

CBS News reported that at around 9:45 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2025<\/a>, Hiller’s body was found inside a partially submerged vehicle near 58th Street East and Avenue H-10 amid the recent storm, per the LA County Sheriff’s Department.<\/p>\n

A department helicopter that was flying over the area spotted a “blue sedan that was partially submerged following yesterday’s flooding.” The vehicle could not be seen from the road due to the terrain and “significant” flooding, reported CBS News.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his mother Margaret, sister Allie, brother Bill, and nieces Tracy and Mindy, who are working to honor his final wishes.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert “Jerry” Hiller. Photo GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Hiller will be laid to rest at the Bakersfield National Cemetery in Arvin. Donations can be made at his GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eyewitness News has not received a Kern County coroner report on Hiller at the time of this publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 68-year-old Navy veteran, Robert “Jerry” Hiller, died on Christmas Eve after his vehicle was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-112888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}