Staff Report

The woman who was killed in a three-vehicle crash on Highway 154 Friday evening, was identified as Rebecca Vanessa Goss Bley, 34, of Solvang, and the two children were still pending identification as of Saturday afternoon, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s officials.

The 28-year-old Santa Barbara man was identified as John Roderick Dungan,

“The 28-year-old Santa Barbara man was driving a westbound in a Chevrolet Camaro and crossed the double yellow lines “for unknown reasons” and slammed head-on into a sedan, driven by a woman with two children in the car, according to Mike Eliason of SBC Fire.

Names of the children were pending confirmation of identification through DNA, said Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Dept.

DNA samples will be sent to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, as their DNA System will be used to confirm the children’s identities, she added.

Goss Bley was known in her professional life as Vanessa Bley, a singer and front woman for the band Beast Patrol. She was daughter of late jazz pianist Paul Bley and pioneer video artist Carol Goss. In addition to her two bands and solo records, Goss Bley scored film and art installations, as well as the audio score for the film Eyes of the Moon, according to her website.

Captain Cindy Pontes of CHP, said the Chevy Camaro was driven by a 28-year-old Santa Barbara man who was traveling westbound, toward Santa Ynez, and crossed into the eastbound lanes.

The Camaro crashed head-on with a Chevy Volt and a GMC behind the Volt swerved to the right and collided with the Volt.

After the collision the Camaro came to rest on the Cold Springs Bridge and the sedan spun out and ended up on the shoulder east of the bridge. A third vehicle, an SUV, was trailing the sedan and was also involved in the crash, Eliason added.

“The Volt and GMC came to rest on the south shoulder where they both caught fire, ultimately causing a brush fire,” Ponce said in an accident report early Saturday. “The Camaro continued forward where it came to rest in the eastbound lane of SR-154 on the Cold Spring Bridge. The driver and passengers of the Chevy Volt were pronounced deceased at the scene of the collision. The driver and the passenger of the GMC Yukon did not sustain any injuries as a result of the collision. The driver of the Chevy Camaro suffered major injuries as a result of the collision, and was life-flighted to Cottage Hospital for medical treatment.”

Giana Magnoli of Noozhawk contributed to this story. She can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.