Overview
- A CHP officer discovered Judith Wyler Sheldon, 84, and her husband Wylie Sheldon, 86, unresponsive in a running 2022 Jeep Compass on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 5 north of Fawndale Road on Monday evening and both were pronounced dead at the scene.
- The CHP’s Northern Division Investigative Services Unit is leading the probe and officials say they do not suspect foul play while they await an autopsy and further medical testing.
- Redding was under an extreme-heat warning that day with temperatures near 109 degrees, a possible but unconfirmed factor that investigators have noted will require medical analysis to assess.
- Judith “Judy” Wyler Sheldon was a well-known San Francisco arts patron and longtime leader of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and her death has prompted widespread mourning across the city’s cultural community.
- Investigators are retracing the couple’s trip from San Francisco and have asked anyone with information to contact CHP as the autopsy and toxicology tests proceed and could take days to weeks to determine a cause of death.