They said the woman who jumped from Bixby Bridge in Big Sur first likely drowned, as did the man who jumped in trying to save her.
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Investigators from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department were able to see the events that led to Connell’s death on a video taken from the instructor’s GoPro camera before he took off his helmet.
Footage not released by police shows that high waves overcame her shortly after landing, as reported by Monterey Herald.
Her male companion – who has not been identified – then jumped off the bridge to try to save her. He later jumped and tried to rescue her when she vanished from the surf, according to Bernal.
BASE jumpers to throw themselves off of objects such as buildings, bridges and cliffs, spending frightful moments freefalling befpre pulling the cord of their parachutes.
Connell, who lived in Ventura, California, and her partner, a BASE jumping instructor from Finland, were experienced BASE jumpers, said Tom Aiello, a friend of the victims, who were presumed drowned. Based on the investigation, he believes they jumped off the bridge at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. His name has not been released because his family has not yet been notified, authorities said.
The BASE jumpers are believed to have died after jumping off of the Bixby Bridge in the Big Sur area.
Deputies looked up the vehicle renter’s name and discovered he had an extensive background in BASE jumping and skydiving.
KION-TV in Salinas, California, reports (http://bit.ly/1PPe9a4 ) that the two have been missing since Saturday morning.
“We had a Mary Catharine Connell, and her work dates here match the information on her Facebook page”, West said. She had been based in Ventura since September, her sister-in-law said. ‘I think it happens more times than we know.
“(BASE jumpers) don’t have two parachutes, they have one, and it’s completely different equipment”, she said.
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Connell worked at Blount Memorial in East Tennessee from 2013-2014, according to hospital spokesman Josh West.
