Missing UC Berkeley student Eloi Vasquez found dead, family says - San Jose Mercury News

By David DeBolt, Elliott Almond and Rick Hurd

Bay Area News Group

LOS ANGELES -- Eloi Vasquez, a bright and talented soccer player at Cal, was killed over the weekend in Los Angeles, struck by a car as he apparently ran across a freeway not long after he vanished from a fraternity party, authorities and family said Monday.

Vasquez, 19, was struck and killed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday by a 2009 Chevy Impala on eastbound Interstate 10, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Ramberto Salcido.

"We're devastated, such a loss of life," his aunt, Beth Crespan said. "He had such a future ahead of him. It's the worst outcome imaginable."

Friends and family had been searching for Vasquez since he vanished from a fraternity party near University of Southern California at about 2:20 a.m. Saturday. Vasquez left the fraternity party without his wallet and identification, authorities had said.

This undated photo provided by the Los Angeles Police Department shows 19-year-old Eloi Vasquez. The University of California, Berkeley, student went missing after he left a party near the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles early Saturday, March 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department) ( uncredited )

The driver who hit Vasquez called police and stayed at the scene, she said.

A Los Angeles County coroner's office spokesman confirmed Vasquez had been killed on the freeway.

A native of Marin County, Vasquez was last seen in the 600 block of West 28th Street, when he told friends he wanted to walk to the beach. His family said he is not familiar with the area, and probably did not know that in central Los Angeles there is not a beach for miles.

The oldest of three brothers in a soccer family, he was born in Novato and graduated from Marin Academy, his grandmother said. He found his calling on the soccer field and to his younger brothers, ages 16 and 12, he was "their star player," friends, coaches and family said Monday.

Check back for updates.

The Los Angeles Daily News contributed to this story.

Contact David DeBolt at 510-208-6453 and follow him at http://ift.tt/1aCju0T.