ATV Plummeted 350 Feet After Rear-Ending Vehicle in Malibu
Sophia Hutchins, former CEO of the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation and longtime friend of Caitlyn Jenner, died on the morning of July 2 in a crash while driving an ATV in the Malibu hills, according to authorities.
The incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. on July 2 along the steep and winding Decker Canyon Road, about a quarter mile south of Decker Edison Road. Investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Hutchins was traveling southbound in a 2013 Polaris side-by-side ATV when she collided with the rear of a 2016 Mazda 6.
After the impact, the ATV veered off the roadway and plunged approximately 350 feet down a cliff. Hutchins was pronounced dead at the scene. Her body was recovered by a sheriff’s department search and rescue team.
The two women inside the Mazda were uninjured and remained at the scene to cooperate with investigators. One of the occupants, a local real estate agent, had reportedly been in the area for a showing.
Sergeant Eduardo Saucedo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, based at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, said, ‘It looks like she may have been speeding and rear-ended the other car, the other party, and then that caused her to veer to the right and go off the cliff…‘So it looked like she tried to maneuver to go around it, but she was going too fast and just ended up clipping the rear end of that Mazda, causing her to veer off and go off the cliff there.”
Sources close to the investigation said Caitlyn Jenner was seen at the crash site while deputies were present. Jenner, 75, later told reporters she was enduring “tough times.”
The damaged ATV remains in the canyon due to its inaccessible location. Authorities stated that the tow company lacked the necessary equipment to retrieve it. Hutchins, 29, who was transgender, met Jenner in 2015 around the time of Jenner’s gender transition. The two developed a close personal and professional relationship, with Hutchins appearing on Jenner’s reality series I Am Cait and eventually leading her nonprofit foundation.
