Missing UC Berkeley student killed in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES -- A University of California, Berkeley soccer player who disappeared after a weekend party was killed by a car as he ran across a Los Angeles freeway, police said Monday.
The 19-year-old freshman, Eloi Vasquez, died early Saturday on eastbound Interstate 10 about a mile from the University of Southern California after he was seen leaving a fraternity party.
A woman said a man ran in front of her and she was unable to avoid hitting him, said Officer Edgar Figueroa, a CHP spokesman. The man was struck just east of Vermont Avenue. The investigation is ongoing.
Vasquez was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not carrying identification, which set off a missing persons search until the coroner could identify him.
Vasquez, who was on spring break in Los Angeles, had left the party to take a walk with no money and no wallet, family and police said.
His mother, Wendy Margolin, said he later called a friend, telling her he was lost and in trouble.
The family had offered a $100,000 reward for information about his whereabouts.
"Eloi is a wonderful young man who has excelled both academically and athletically here at Cal," the university said in a statement before the death was confirmed.