Spencer Shepard | spencer@kvsun.com<\/p>\n
This story has been updated with information from the Kern County Sheriff-Coroner\u2019s Office identifying one of the victims.<\/p>\n
Two people were killed Saturday evening, March 28, 2026, after a vehicle crashed into a tree and caught fire along Highway 178 near Weldon, according to the California Highway Patrol and Kern County Sheriff-Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
CHP officers were dispatched at approximately 4:27 p.m. to a solo-vehicle crash east of Kels Valley Road. According to CHP Public Information Officer Officer Toro, a Lexus RX400 was traveling eastbound on Highway 178 when, for reasons still under investigation, the vehicle veered off the roadway to the right and struck a tree.<\/p>\n
The vehicle became fully engulfed in flames, trapping both the driver and a passenger inside. Both occupants were pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n
The Kern County Sheriff-Coroner\u2019s Office identified the passenger as Deborah Lea Struska, 62, of Weldon. According to the coroner\u2019s report, Struska was a passenger in the vehicle and died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash.<\/p>\n
The driver has not yet been identified and is listed as John Doe pending positive identification and notification of next of kin, according to the coroner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Dispatch logs show flames were reported coming from beneath the driver\u2019s side of the vehicle, and bystanders attempted to put out the fire before emergency crews arrived.<\/p>\n
It remains under investigation whether alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash, according to CHP.<\/p>\n
The California Highway Patrol continues to investigate the cause of the collision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spencer Shepard | spencer@kvsun.com This story has been updated with information from the Kern County Sheriff-Coroner\u2019s Office identifying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-247839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247839","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=247839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}