RAINBOW, CA — A man and a woman who died after a head-on crash on Interstate 15 south of Temecula have been publicly identified, and both were residents of the Southwest Riverside County area. According to the CHP, a man driving the wrong way on the freeway was responsible for killing both himself and the woman.

The crash happened around 11:15 p.m. Friday as 23-year-old Jacob Rodriguez of Lake Elsinore was driving "at a high rate of speed" in a white Hyundai Elantra north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 15, according to coroner's officials. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Jessica Neumeyer of Murrieta was driving a white Honda Civic southbound in the fast lane, according to the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.



"While approaching the Rainbow Valley Blvd W. exit, both vehicles collided head-on in the number one lane," according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

Neumeyer died at the scene of the crash, while Rodriguez died at Palomar Medical Center, officials said.



CHP dispatchers received a call just after 11 p.m. Friday reporting that the Hyundai had entered I-15 at Deer Springs Road, traveling north in the southbound lanes, CHP Officer Mark Latulippe said. An officer from the CHP's Oceanside office started a traffic break near state Route 76 in an effort to stop the wrong-way driver. The Hyundai did not stop for the traffic break and continued heading the wrong direction at a high speed, Latulippe said.

Alcohol or other drugs were suspected to have played a part in the crash, which remained under investigation.

