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Alleged Driver Arrested in Hit-Run Death of Adrianna Bachan

Woman held on $1 million bail, husband sought as the suspect who threw another victim off the hood

By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher | updated logo 5 p.m. Saturday | Published on 04.03.2009

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Los Angeles police have arrested a woman they suspect was the driver in the hit-and-run collision that killed Adrianna Bachan, a 19-year-old USC freshman from Montecito, and badly injured a companion. The woman’s husband is also being sought for questioning.

Claudia Cabrera, 30, of South Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday night and booked for investigation of gross vehicular manslaughter, police officials said at a Friday afternoon news conference. Cabrera is being held on $1 million bail at the Van Nuys women’s jail and a case will be presented Monday to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, LAPD spokesman Richard French said.

Bachan and Marcus Garfinkle, 19, of Scottsdale, Ariz., were walking in a marked crosswalk on Jefferson Boulevard at Hoover Street, on the north side of the USC campus, about 3 a.m. Sunday when a car ran a red light and struck them. Bachan died of her injuries. Witnesses reported that the car drove about 400 feet with Garfinkle embedded in the hood and windshield before the driver stopped and a passenger got out and threw him to the ground. Garfinkle remained hospitalized Friday in serious but stable condition. Among his injuries are two broken legs.

Police officials said Cabrera was driving with a suspended license for unpaid traffic tickets. Although the car — a dark green 2000 Infiniti four-door sedan, California license plate 4DUG665 — has not been found, police said tipsters have reported that the windshield has been replaced.

Also being sought is Cabrera’s husband, Josue Luna, 31, who police say may have been the passenger who dislodged Garfinkle from the hood and then reportedly held the windshield in place with his hand as the car sped away. Luna is described as 5-foot-9 and 245 pounds, with a “stocky” build and a shaved head. Court records show he has a 1995 conviction for carrying a concealed firearm.

Police said the couple’s 7-month-old infant also was in the car at the time of the collision.

Rewards totaling $235,000 had been offered for information in the case and police said Friday that the money was a factor in the tips that led to the arrest. The Los Angeles City Council committed a $75,000 reward, USC pledged $50,000 and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors added $10,000. An anonymous donor provided an additional $100,000 on Thursday.

Bachan, the daughter of Carmen and James Bachan of Montecito, was a 2008 graduate of Santa Barbara High, where she captained the girls’ soccer team as a senior. She played on the 2007-08 Santa Barbara Soccer Club Girls Under 19 Premier team, and she and her mother were longtime snow-cone booth volunteers at the Children’s Creative Project’s I Madonnari festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. Bachan was an environmental studies major at USC and a new member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 1300 East Valley Road.

Donations to a memorial fund established for Bachan’s family can be made at Business First Bank, Adrianna Bachan Memorial Fund, 1035 State St., Santa Barbara 93101.

— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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» ams on 04.04.09 @ 05:34 AM

So glad they have the women in custody….the couple sound like real losers. Amazing that the windshield was replaced and yet that was not reported to enable the cars location!! Seems it’s a bigger web of law breakers.