Authorities have identified two skydivers who died while training to set a new state record in Lake Elsinore on Friday.
Georgia Jean, 56, of South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Illinois, collided midair and their parachutes became entangled, causing them to fall to the ground, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. They were pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The collision took place about 150 feet off the ground, according to a statement from Skydive Elsinore. There’s no indication the skydivers’ equipment malfunctioned, the company said.
Both women were experienced, licensed skydivers in town to take part in an organized event at Skydive Elsinore, according to the company.
Chazi Rutz, a professional skydiver from Arizona, previously told The Times that the two skydivers were part of a group training to set a California record for the largest formation in the upright orientation performed by women. In such an orientation, participants appear as though they are sitting in the air.
The skydivers — including Rutz — jumped from a plane and held each other’s hands Friday morning. Rutz described the first minute of free fall as uneventful but said tragedy struck soon after they deployed their parachutes.
Jean was a former standup comic and medium who founded an energy work and life coaching service based in Box Elder, South Dakota. She had completed some 1,700 jumps since discovering skydiving in 2015 and entered her first competition two years ago, according to her blog. As part of team First Froth, she won bronze in the intermediate mixed formation skydiving event at the 2024 United States Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships, her Facebook page states.
Pimentel was a lead skydiving instructor at iFLY Indoor Skydiving in Naperville, Illinois, according to her LinkedIn page. She had completed more than 600 jumps since making her first skydive on her 18th birthday and in 2022 was part of a team that set a women’s head-down skydiving world record, according to a report from WTVO News 34. Pimentel also had planned to join 39 other women from 12 countries in Arizona later this month in an attempt to set a new world record for the largest women’s upright skydiving formation, the report states.
An inquiry into the women’s deaths is ongoing, according to the sheriff’s office, which said the Federal Aviation Administration will collect their parachutes for further investigation.
Times staff writer Iris Kwok contributed to this report
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