Families of 2 Men Killed in Bus Crash That Preceded Helicopter Tragedy Speak Out as Accused Driver's Earlier Messages Emerge

A father of four and a man just days away from celebrating his 32nd birthday lost their lives in a devastating Los Angeles bus crash — only for the horror of that afternoon to deepen when another deadly disaster unfolded barely two hours later.

Now, the grieving families of Daniel Castillo and Gage Weida are sharing heartbreaking memories of the men they loved, as authorities investigate the violent collision that killed them and left six others injured.

Meanwhile, troubling new details have emerged about the woman police say was driving the SUV that slammed into their Metro bus — including messages she sent to a longtime friend just hours before the deadly wreck.

Two Families Were Planning for Very Different Days

Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31, were passengers aboard a Los Angeles Metro bus in Chatsworth on Tuesday, September 15, when an SUV struck it.

For Weida's family, the timing made an already unbearable loss even more painful. They had been preparing to travel to Southern California that weekend — not to mourn him, but to celebrate his 32nd birthday.

His father, Jeffrey Weida, told CBS Los Angeles that Gage had recently spoken about just how excited he was for the upcoming family visit. "Unfortunately, we're still heading out there, but for all the wrong reasons," Jeffrey said.

Gage had been working in Southern California and had a longtime girlfriend named Autumn. His family remembered him as a man who embraced both people and life with an enormous heart. "He's just got a heart of gold. Gage is just a big teddy bear who loved everybody, loved life and was just doing his thing," his father said.

The grieving family also expressed their gratitude to the strangers and first responders who rushed toward the wreckage and tried to help Gage in his final moments.

"It's just comforting to know that people were there with him, saying prayers for him, and if they knew Gage, they would know it was all worthwhile," Jeffrey said. "Gage was a wonderful, wonderful boy, and he's resting easy now."

Castillo, meanwhile, left behind four children. His youngest daughter, Johaunna Castillo, remembered a devoted father who always put his family first — and whose warmth and humor could brighten the lives of everyone around him.

"My dad was an amazing person. He had a way of bringing so much laughter and light into every single person's lives," she told CBS Los Angeles. Johaunna said her shattered family was still struggling to comprehend the sudden loss.

"There are no words that can truly capture how much we will miss him or the space he leaves behind in our lives," she wrote on a fundraiser for funeral expenses, according to ABC News Australia. Both families have since received support from strangers and are raising money online.

What Police Say Happened in Chatsworth

The collision that claimed the lives of Castillo and Weida happened at about 5 p.m. near Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue, about 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, 36-year-old Bailee Lynn Rios of Simi Valley was driving a 2004 Ford Expedition.

Police allege Rios was traveling the wrong way on De Soto Avenue before running a red light at Nordhoff Street and crashing into an eastbound Metro bus. The impact was so violent that one passenger was fully ejected and another was partially ejected, according to an LAPD release cited by People.

Debris from the collision also damaged a 2024 Honda CR-V that had been stopped facing north on De Soto Avenue at Nordhoff Street. Castillo and Weida died. Six other people were rushed to hospitals, with one passenger suffering severe injuries.

Authorities also suspected reckless driving and a possible DUI, according to reporting cited by the New York Post. Rios was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of murder. She was booked and held on $4 million bail.

As of Wednesday, however, she had not been formally charged. A Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokesperson told People that a case had not yet been presented to the office, although prosecutors were communicating with law enforcement.

The district attorney's office was reviewing the matter to determine what charges, if any, would ultimately be filed.

Another Disaster Followed About Two Hours Later

The horrifying bus collision was the breaking-news story that brought an NBC4 news helicopter to Chatsworth. Then, roughly two hours after the roadway crash, another tragedy struck.

The Eurocopter AS350 carrying aerial reporter and photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw went down nearby. Moreno and Marciniw were killed.

Edy Gutierrez Mejia, a 29-year-old bystander on the ground, was also killed in a parking lot near the crash site. Guatemala's consulate confirmed that Mejia was from the country. At least two other people were taken to a hospital, according to officials cited by CNN.

The helicopter plunged between commercial buildings near a large storage facility and caught fire. Four vehicles and two storage containers were damaged as more than 70 firefighters descended on the scene.

There were no immediate findings establishing what caused the helicopter to go down. But the aircraft's haunting final broadcast has become a crucial part of the investigation. Moreno could initially be heard coordinating aerial coverage with Marciniw.

"Can we plan our spot, George?" she said. Later, an alarm began sounding as the helicopter moved away from the bus crash and lost altitude. "Uh oh," Moreno said before asking, "You can't pull up?" The video stopped as the aircraft neared the ground.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said the recording was "probably the most important evidence" investigators had discovered at that point.

He said the sounds appeared consistent with changes in engine speed and likely advisory tones for the pilot. The NTSB is investigating both the helicopter crash and the bus collision.

What an Aviation Expert Heard

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti offered one possible explanation for the ominous alarm captured in the helicopter's final footage, while emphasizing that investigators still had to determine exactly what happened.

Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration crash investigator, told PBS NewsHour that the sound resembled a low rotor RPM warning. Such an alarm warns that the main rotor is no longer turning fast enough to keep the aircraft airborne.

"It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed," Guzzetti said. He said the pilot appeared to attempt an emergency maneuver that uses airflow to keep the rotor turning and potentially provide enough lift to reduce the force of impact.

But because the helicopter had been hovering at a relatively low altitude, Guzzetti said there would have been precious little time to carry out that maneuver. His assessment was expert analysis of the available footage, not an official finding on what caused the crash.

News Helicopters Have a Long History in Los Angeles

Helicopters have been a familiar sight above Los Angeles television news stories for decades, particularly during breaking events and police pursuits.

KTLA introduced its "Telecopter" in 1958. By the 1990s, live aerial footage of police pursuits had become a defining feature of local television, with the 1994 O.J. Simpson pursuit capturing worldwide attention.

But the dramatic work carries undeniable risks, particularly when aircraft are operating above a sprawling major city. In 2007, two television news helicopters covering a police pursuit in Phoenix collided in midair, killing four people. Five news helicopters and a police aircraft had been hovering over the pursuit.

News helicopter crashes have also killed crews in New Jersey in 2023 and Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2022. For KNBC, Tuesday's disaster was not its first fatal helicopter accident. In 1977, pilot Francis Gary Powers and a cameraman died when a KNBC helicopter ran out of fuel while returning from coverage of a wildfire in Santa Barbara.

A review of federal accident records and news reports cited by PBS found at least eight fatal U.S. news helicopter crashes since 2000, resulting in 16 deaths. Guzzetti said news crews in busy cities coordinate over radio and share safety practices to manage the extraordinary demands of reporting from the air.

"It's a very unique form of flying. And the community is very good about lessons learned," he said. "And so because of that, you don't hear about too many of those accidents. So they're rare, but they do occur, just because the mission is a risky one."

The Woman Accused of Causing the Bus Crash

As investigators examined the two deadly crashes, attention also turned toward the woman police say was behind the wheel of the Ford Expedition. Rios, 36, is from Simi Valley. CBS Los Angeles reported that she had two previous convictions.

She was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in Ventura County in 2016. Eight years later, she was convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license. But another chapter of Rios's past emerged through Brad Aragon, a longtime friend who said he had known her for 11 years.

Aragon is the son of boxer "Golden Boy" Art Aragon. He said he first met Rios in Los Angeles while he was dealing drugs. According to Aragon, he became a drug dealer after his father's death and after running his father's business, Aragon Bail Bonds, into the ground.

He was eventually arrested and faced five years in prison. Aragon said Rios stood by him during that dark period and later went to rehab. After his release, she encouraged him to launch a YouTube channel called "The Federal Tool Box," which helps people adjust to life after serving prison sentences.

"When I got out, she was clean. She is the one person that didn't try to get me back into the old ways," he said. That complicated history made news of Rios's arrest all the more unexpected for her longtime friend.

"I thought she was on the straight-and-narrow path. I was surprised that she'd be so careless. She must be held accountable," Aragon said.

Hours Before the Collision, Rios Was Texting Him

Aragon and Rios had remained in contact, and the longtime friends were discussing plans for him to visit Los Angeles in October. He lives in Houston, and Rios was supposed to pick him up at Los Angeles International Airport when he arrived.

On the same day as the fatal bus collision, the pair had also been discussing a far more ordinary milestone in Rios's life. Aragon said she had been working with his help to improve her credit and had finally reached a score of 700.

She sent him a screenshot of the score that day. But their conversation also veered toward a much more troubling subject. Aragon told the New York Post that Rios had raised "big concerns lately."

He said she had been talking about people she believed she should not be associating with, and he planned to help her. Then, at 1:24 p.m. on Tuesday, Rios sent Aragon a message about her boyfriend.

"Brad, it's not a joking matter on this bf thing its serious and im honestly scared but yes of course imma come see you," the message read. The message was sent only hours before the fatal collision. There is no established connection between the subject of that text and Rios's alleged driving later that afternoon.

Her Mother Addresses the Victims' Families

Rios's mother, Cindy Rios, also spoke publicly following her daughter's arrest. She said she had not spoken with her daughter since the arrest and had not been contacted by law enforcement. "The fact that my daughter was involved and was the cause of it is just extremely disturbing," Cindy told The Associated Press.

Her thoughts then turned toward the families confronting an unimaginable loss. "If anything, I'm sorry for the other families ... My daughter's alive. People lost their lives." Rios's cousin, Katelyn Trinity, also posted a public message on Facebook expressing her continued support.

"I've never stopped loving you and praying for you and I promise I never will. No matter what. Right or wrong. Forever," Trinity wrote. Rios also has a publicly identified Facebook page .

For Aragon, however, the consequences of what police allege happened on that devastating Tuesday remained at the center of his response. "To hear that she's done something like this, it's terrible. She could do 45 to life," he said.

Rios remains accused, and the district attorney had not filed charges as of the latest available information.