{"id":365773,"date":"2026-06-18T14:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365773\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:44:09","slug":"san-francisco-socialites-mysteriously-found-dead-in-running-car-by-the-side-of-the-highway-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365773\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco socialites mysteriously found dead in running car by the side of the highway, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of prominent San Francisco socialites, known for being longtime patrons of the arts, were found dead in a running car on the side of a highway, police said.<\/p>\n

Judith Sheldon, 84, daughter of the filmmaker William Wyler, and her husband, Wylie Sheldon, 86, were found inside their Jeep Compass on the shoulder of Interstate 5 approaching Lake Shasta by a California Highway Patrol Officer Monday night, SFGate reported. <\/a><\/p>\n

The couple was found unresponsive inside the car, which was still running, California Highway Patrol Lieutenant Josh Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of information now,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAn autopsy has not been performed yet. We\u2019re waiting to hear when they\u2019ll schedule that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite having little information, authorities say they do not suspect foul play. Authorities are still investigating the cause of death, but the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> reported that it was medical-related.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A pair of prominent San Francisco socialites was found dead inside their car not far from Lake Shasta along Interstate 5, authorities said (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the hottest day of the year so far, or second hottest. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s always a possibility that excessive heat played a role,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t confirm that without a medical exam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judy was the daughter of actress Margaret Tallichet, known for films including \u201cIt Start With Eve\u201d and \u201cStranger on the Third Floor,\u201d and William Wyler, a longtime movie director who won three Academy Awards for best director.<\/p>\n

The couple was deeply involved in the arts community in Pacific Heights and would often open up their home to visiting artists. Judy was also a chairman on the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, where she held roles for over 27 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were so dear and devoted to one another,\u201d Anita Monga, the artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, told SFGate. \u201cI know that being part of San Francisco was very important for them. They were in a position to be supportive of the arts. They raised their family here, and they were such integral parts of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judy and Wylie both graduated from Stanford University. Wylie went to Stanford Law School and practiced law until 2008. The couple raised two sons, Christopher and Samuel, in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The couple used their position to help strengthen the city\u2019s art communities, including the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Performances, where Judy served as the gala co-chair in 2022, SFGate reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been patrons and supporters of SF Performances for decades,\u201d Melanie Smith, the president of San Francisco Performances, told the outlet. \u201cThis is a terrible loss for the arts community, and we will miss them very much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of prominent San Francisco socialites, known for being longtime patrons of the arts, were found dead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[859,148095,101,103,102,27351,104,106,105,675,148093,148096],"class_list":["post-365773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-california-highway-patrol","tag-judith-sheldon","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-san-francisco-performances","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sfgate","tag-william-wyler","tag-wylie-sheldon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365773","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=365773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}