Obituaries
3rd Person Dies In Rural Sonoma County Jeep Crashes
A 49-year-old man was hospitalized since the crash but died, authorities said.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A third person has died from two separate Jeep crashes that occurred Monday on private property at the Happy Hills Hunting Club near Cazadero, authorities said late this week.
Justin Gregori, 49, of Sebastopol, was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries suffered in the crash. He later died from his injuries, the Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner's Office said Friday.
Gregori was driving a Jeep and tried to rescue another man and his three sons, whose Jeep had overturned and slid down an embankment of roughly 150 feet.
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The father, 32-year-old Santa Rosa resident Matthew Sousa, and one of his sons, 7-year-old Jason Sousa, died as a result of the crash. Matthew Sousa's two other sons were hospitalized for injuries from the crash.
Matthew Sousa and his sons were driving on a narrow road on private property in a rural part of northwest Sonoma County near the unincorporated area of Cazadero when their vehicle crashed, according to the California Highway Patrol.
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Officers and first responders with the CHP's Santa Rosa office and the Monte Rio Fire Protection District were dispatched to the scene around 5:45 p.m.
While first responders were still en route, Gregori stopped nearby in an attempt to help the Sousas, but his Jeep also slid down the embankment.
He suffered critical injuries as a result and died Thursday, according to his family.
Emergency responders required ATVs to access the scene of the crashes due to the rural location, steep terrain, an incoming fog bank and the evening darkness.
GoFundMe fundraising campaigns were launched for both families in the wake of the crashes.
A campaign for the Sousa family, located at https://www.gofundme.com/f/sousa-family-tragedy, has raised more than $100,000 as of Friday evening.
The campaign for the Gregori family, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/love-and-support-for-the-gregori-family, garnered roughly $25,000 in donations by Friday evening.
— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
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