Decomposed body found in wrecked Jeep ID'd as missing Phelan man

PHELAN, Calif. (VVNG.com) — A decomposed body found inside a wrecked Jeep Thursday has been identified as that of a missing Phelan man, 37-year-old Josiah Holloway, authorities said.

Holloway was reported missing in mid-August after he was last heard from on August 8, 2020, in Llano, California, according to the flyer shared by friends on social media.

At the time, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials said Hollaway did not have a permanent address but was known to stay with various friends in the high desert.

He was said to be driving a 2020 black jeep with license #07753V2 at the time of his disappearance and was described as 6’1”, 200lbs, with brown short hair, a beard, and walked with a limp due to a bad right leg.

Then, on August 27, 2020, at approximately 9 a.m., a hiker found an overturned 2020 Jeep Gladiator (rental vehicle) in a ravine, located in an open desert area near Wintergreen Road and Goss Rd within the community of Phelan, with a decomposing body inside of the vehicle, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Mumford.

Although the vehicle was a match, positive identification was not immediately known because of the state of decomposition.

“The deep ravine made it difficult to see the vehicle from any portion of the surrounding desert. When officers arrived on scene, the solo male occupant, who was determined to be the driver, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision, was pronounced deceased,” Officer Mumford told VVNG.

Mumford said the crash is being investigated as a traffic collision and that foul play is not suspected.

“This was a slow-speed collision. The vehicle’s right-side tires entered the ravine which caused the Jeep to overturn once, onto its roof. If the driver had been wearing his seatbelt, he could have walked away from this collision,” said Mumford.

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