Las Vegas man missing after his truck crashes into ocean

Jen Lawson

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Authorities were searching for a Las Vegas man whose pickup truck plummeted over a cliff and into the ocean early Thursday in Northern California.

Shortly before the crash on Highway 1 in Redwood City, the man sent a cryptic text message to his wife in Las Vegas on her pager saying he was being carjacked, according to Bronwyn Hogan, spokeswoman for the San Mateo Sheriff's Office.

Investigators are trying to piece together the evidence to determine what happened to Donovan Lee Curtis, 32, of Las Vegas. Investigators cannot find him.

Shortly after 2 a.m. investigators responded to a report of a white pickup truck that fell 240 feet off the cliffs at Devil's Slide, known as a "fairly dangerous" road, Hogan said.

Investigators found the truck partially submerged with no one inside or in the surrounding waters, she said.

Witnesses told investigators that moments before the crash, they had seen the truck being driven by a man with a blue bandana and that a woman was also in the truck. Another witness reported seeing the man running from the crash as the truck plummeted into the ocean.

Investigators later learned the truck was owned by Curtis, whom California Highway Patrol investigators said had been living recently in a coastal RV park.

They consider the text message to be credible, Hogan said.

Asked if the crash could have been staged, possibly for insurance money, Hogan said, "There's no determination as to what he did. The witnesses don't report seeing him pushing a vehicle, so it's pure speculation."

Curtis has been added to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office missing persons database.

Metro Police said this morning that Curtis has no history of arrests in Nevada and has no outstanding warrants.