The California Highway Patrol is investigating the deaths of a couple whose bodies were found in a running vehicle on the side of the 5 Freeway near Redding earlier this week.
The deceased were identified as Judith and Wylie Sheldon, longtime members of the San Francisco art community who lived in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. Judith was 84 and Wylie was 86.
Around 5:46 p.m. Monday, a CHP officer stopped after seeing a Jeep Compass pulled over on the right shoulder of the 5 north of Fawndale Road. Inside, he found the Sheldons unresponsive.
“A second CHP officer arrived on scene, and both officers rendered medical aid to the parties along with medical personnel,” the agency said in a statement.
The couple was pronounced dead at the scene. A cause of death is still under investigation, authorities said, but it “appears to be medically related.”
The temperatures in Redding that day were above normal, with a high of 109 degrees.
A representative from the National Weather Service told The Times this was “near record-breaking heat.”
The Sheldons spent their lives with other artists, often opening their home for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, according to reporting from SFGate. Judith was board chair for the festival.
“They were so dear and devoted to one another,” Anita Monga, the artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, told the outlet. “I know that being part of San Francisco was very important for them. They were in a position to be supportive of the arts. They raised their family here, and they were such integral parts of the community.”
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