Jack Edwin Winchester, a missing 95-year-old Santa Ana man died after driving off the 73 Toll Road and onto Bonita Canyon Drive in Irvine, according to the O.C. Register.
The crash happened just before 4 a.m., after the driver of a Volkswagen Jetta was reported traveling north in the southbound lanes of the 73, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The driver, who turned out to be Winchester, reportedly busted through a chain link fence in the center divider area, off the freeway and ended up on a dirt embankment on the side of Bonita Canyon. The CHP reported that the car went on for a short distance on eastbound Bonita before stopping in a lane.
Winchester’s death was confirmed by the Orange County Coroner’s Office on Saturday. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department released a missing person’s bulletin about Winchester on Friday night.
Authorities at the time of Winchester’s disappearance believed that he intended to drive to Irvine to pay a toll road bill. He was reportedly in good health, but was forgetful. He was believed to be lost.
