Car crash victim’s family finds body after CHP couldn’t

From staff and wire reports

The body of a man who died after in a car crash in Mountain View wasn’t found by authorities, but by his family.

The CHP responded at 6 p.m. on Christmas to a crash involving a silver 1999 Toyota RAV4 that hit a center divide of northbound Highway 85 near the Fremont Avenue off-ramp.

CHP officers and firefighters from Mountain View arrived at the scene but were unable to locate any victims.

His family of the man — Alan Willcox, 40, of Los Gatos — was notified of the crash on Tuesday night and went to the crash location yesterday (Dec. 26) to search in the daylight.

It turns out that Willcox managed to extricate himself from the Toyota and walked south about half a mile, crossing over a center divide into a southbound lane of the freeway. He then went up on a freeway embankment and died. Willcox’s family eventually found his body in an “extremely concealed spot” in a gully on an elevated embankment, said CHP Officer Dave Morey.

“We did our due diligence in terms of searching for the party (Tuesday) night,” Corey said.

The CHP is still investigating the cause of the crash.