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Tustin Mother Identified as Woman Recovered From Santa Ana River on New Year’s Day

More than 60 firefighters worked through fast-moving water over roughly two miles to retrieve her body.

Overview

  • Relatives identified the victim as 39-year-old Alejandra Ramirez Torres, a mother of two.
  • A caller reported a person in the water near Harbor Boulevard and Warner Avenue in Costa Mesa, and crews recovered her near Ellis Avenue in Fountain Valley about two miles downstream.
  • The Orange County Fire Authority said more than 60 firefighters from multiple agencies worked in cold, fast-moving water, which Capt. Sean Doran described as a challenging operation over a couple of miles.
  • Officials said she was homeless at the time of her death, and the circumstances of how she entered the river remain unknown.
  • Family members said she lived in Tustin and her daughters, 16 and 11, are still recovering from a church bus crash near Running Springs a month earlier.