A Solvang resident has been identified as the woman killed in a fiery crash on Highway 154 Friday afternoon, but the names of the two children in the vehicle, who also died, have not been released, pending DNA testing.
Rebecca Vanessa Goss Bley, 34, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, along with two children in the vehicle’s backseat, according to Raquel Zick, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sherif’s Department Coroner’s Bureau.
Authorities originally identified her as Rebecca Gleason.
Names of the children were pending confirmation of identification through DNA, Zick said.
DNA samples will be sent to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, where an ANDE Rapid DNA System will be used to confirm the children’s identities, she added.
Bley was killed in a three-vehicle crash and fire near Cold Spring Bridge.
According to the California Highway Patrol, John Roderick Dungan, 28, of Santa Barbara was driving a westbound Chevy Camaro that crossed the double yellow line “for unknown reasons” and slammed head-on into the Chevy Volt driven by Goss Bley, with two children in the car.
A GMC behind the Volt also was involved in the crash, and the two vehicles crashed into the south shoulder of the roadway and caught fire, CHP Capt. Cindy Pontes said Saturday.
The Camaro came to rest on the bridge itself, and Dungan had to be extricated and was flown to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
He remained in critical condition Saturday night, Pontes said.
Two occupants in the Yukon, a man and his son, were uninjured.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation on Saturday.
The vehicle fire sparked a 2-acre brush fire next to Highway 154, which firefighters quickly contained.
Bley was married to Solvang resident Max Gleason, and they reportedly had two young children.
Bley was the daughter of late jazz pianist Paul Bley and pioneer video artist Carol Goss. She had a musical career during which she was best known as the lead singer for haze-pop band Beast Patrol, named by Rolling Stone as a band to watch, according to her biography on her website.
She also performed with jazz-noir group Twin Danger, which NPR described as “The Sound Of Frank Sinatra Meets The Clash.”
Additionally, she worked as a songwriter who scored film and art installations plus later completed a psych-rock solo record entitled, “Life & Death,” according to her website.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.