UPDATED: Body of Woman Pedestrian Found Hours After 2-Car Hit-and-Run on SeaWorld Drive

UPDATED: Victim Was Well-Known, Unhoused and a Beloved member of the Voltaire Street Community.

There is a crucial update to this story. The woman who was initially thought to be a pedestrian is now being reported as a passenger in one of the cars involved in the crash. She has been publicly identified and is well-known. [See below]

10News has more of an update:

61-year-old Celeste Necochea [was] in a hit-and-run crash on Sea World Drive around midnight last Saturday. Necochea was a well-known and beloved member of the Ocean Beach community who had been unhoused for more than a decade, calling Voltaire Street home.

“Everybody knew Celeste – everybody on this block I can speak for- knew Celeste,” said Robert Shamoun, owner of OB Quik Stop.

Every business and resident I spoke to had fond memories of Necochea, describing her as someone who gave back to the community despite her circumstances. “She was a very kind, intelligent, and helpful person,” said Anthony Ciulla, who knew Celeste.

Community members said Necochea would pick up scraps on the side of the road and accept food from kind strangers. Despite her situation, she found ways to help others. “She’d always want to volunteer and sweep our parking lots for us,” Shamoun said.

People who knew her said Necochea would leave a $10 bill at businesses that supported her and walk away before being seen. “I witnessed her giving what little she had to other homeless people to help them out. So when I heard she had passed this way, I was very heartbroken,” Ciulla said.

This is the original story:

During the early hours of Saturday morning, drivers coming out of OB and Point Loma were confronted with the closure of the lane on their side of the bridge over San Diego River. Police had shut down a lot of the roadway. Turns out there had been a two-car accident around midnight – a hit and run actually – around the 100 block of Sea World Drive.

Police conducted their initial investigation and determined that one of the drivers, who was driving a 2013 Honda, had rear-ended another vehicle, pushing it forward and then had taken off. That Honda was later found, but the driver has not been located. And the roadway was cleared two hours later, at around 2 a.m. This according 7SanDiego.

Yet later that day, someone sighted a body in the vicinity and called police. SDPD responded around 1 pm, found the body identified as a 61-year-old woman and determined that one of the drivers had hit and killed her. One witness said they saw that police officers had swamped Robb Field.

Sgt. Clint Leisz told the press that the driver of the Honda who took off had hit the woman pedestrian on the side of the road.

As they conducted their investigation, authorities issued a SigAlert due to the heavy traffic in that area that was cleared around 6 p.m. And again, the bridge over the River was blocked off on the west side.

NBC 7 asked SDPD why it took more than ten hours for the body to be found. Police responded by saying that they did not know about the pedestrian being hit at the time of the crash, which was just after midnight. [By Natanya Faitelson and Jeanette Quezada / 7SanDiego /  August 30, 2025]

CBS8 reported a slightly varied story:

The crash occurred at around 12:20 a.m. near West Mission Bay Drive, according to the San Diego Police Department. When officers arrived, both vehicles were at the scene, but one driver had run away, police said. [Our emphasis.]

The woman’s body was discovered around 1 p.m. near the crash site, police said. Her name has not yet been released.

Police said one vehicle rear-ended the other. No arrests have been made, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The San Diego Union-Tribune carried the exact same report, initially made by City News Service.

10News by Friday, has changed the narrative of this story and is reporting that it is believed now that 61-year-old Celeste Necochea whose body was found 10-12 hours after the crash amid trees and shrubbery alongside the roadway “had been riding in one of the cars that crashed.”

“… a hit-and-run … took place in the 100 block of Sea World Drive shortly before 12:30 a.m. last Saturday, according to police and the county Medical Examiner’s Office. When emergency personnel arrived at the site of the crash, one of the two involved motorists had fled, officials said.

“About 12 hours later, officers investigating the accident found the body of 61-year-old Celeste Necochea amid trees and shrubbery alongside the roadway, authorities reported. Investigators believe that Necochea had been riding in one of the cars that crashed in the area the previous night.”