The driver who slammed into an LA bus before a news helicopter crash is
charged with murder
[September 18, 2026]
By TIM SULLIVAN
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An SUV driver was under the influence of drugs when
she swerved into the wrong lane, blew a red light and slammed into a Los
Angeles city bus, killing two riders, prosecutors said Thursday as they
charged her with murder.
It was a tragedy compounded by the subsequent fatal crash of a TV news
helicopter that had been covering the collision.
Bailee Lynn Rios was speeding and impaired when she drove her 2004 Ford
Expedition the wrong way down a busy avenue and struck a vehicle before
plowing into a city bus on Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney
Nathan Hochman told a news conference.
Rios, 36, faces two charges of second-degree murder in the deaths of the
two people on the bus, identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida,
31.
Rios was being held on $4.1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in
court Friday. Online court records did not list a lawyer who might speak
on her behalf, and the public defender’s office said it had not been
appointed to represent her.
Reached Wednesday, her mother Cindy Rios said she was shocked and
saddened by the string of events. She said she had not spoken to Bailee
Lynn Rios since her arrest and had not been contacted by law
enforcement. She could not immediately be reached Thursday for
additional comment.
The news helicopter crash killed both people on board, pilot George
Marciniw and reporter Eliana Moreno, and a man on the ground, Edy
Gutierrez Mejia. At least four cars and two storage containers burned
after the helicopter caught fire.
In surveillance footage obtained by NBC4 Los Angeles, the helicopter can
be seen dropping out of the sky on a slight diagonal angle and landing
behind a few trees and other objects. Moments later, a large plume of
black smoke and flames erupt from the crash site.
Hundreds gathered in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on
Thursday evening for a candlelit vigil honoring the victims of both
crashes. Friends and family members brought photos of their loved ones
and joined in prayer.
Crash victim liked people-watching on bus, daughter says
Castillo’s daughter, Johaunna Castillo, said he was on the way home from
his job at a car parts warehouse Tuesday, on the same bus he took every
day.
“The back was his favorite seat,” she said. “He liked people-watching.”
While she moved to Georgia with her mother and siblings as a teen and
now attends college there, she spent her school breaks and summers in LA
with her father. When they were apart, he called her after work every
single day.
“He would just tell me about all the people he’s met and all the things
that happened on the bus,” she said.
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In this aerial view, people investigate the aftermath of a news
helicopter crash in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, on
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.(AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
That day, he told her he was getting on the bus and would call her when
he was walking home. But the call never came.
She said her father was a hard worker, and a bright and lively person
who touched anyone he interacted with. His co-workers, friends, and even
many people who only knew him in passing have reached out to share “how
much of a light that he was,” she said.
“That’s who he was and that’s how he should be remembered — someone who
brought a lot of joy and love into people’s lives,” Johaunna Castillo
said. Hundreds have donated to an online fundraiser for funeral
expenses.
Clues to helicopter crash may lie in broadcast video
There were no immediate details on what caused the helicopter to go
down, but investigators said significant clues could come from the last
seconds of video the crew broadcast. In it, an alarm could be heard
inside the helicopter’s cockpit as it lost altitude.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said
Wednesday that the video is “probably the most important evidence that
we have discovered so far.”
Just after the beeping starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh.” The
helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing
altitude. The woman says “You can’t pull up?” before the video stops as
the chopper nears the ground.
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm suggests a potential
loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed.
He said the pilot appeared to be trying to perform an emergency maneuver
to use the wind to force the rotor to spin again.
The NTSB is also investigating the bus collision.
Moreno and Marciniw both worked for Angel City Air, a helicopter
contractor, and provided aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52.
Moreno, born in Orange County, joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same
year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from
Chapman University. She reported for several news outlets and began
flying with Marciniw in 2023, NBC4 said.
Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High
School in 1974.
There have been at least eight fatal crashes involving news helicopters
in the U.S. since 2000, killing 16 people, according to a review of
federal accident records and news accounts.
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