Jan 11, 2008 11:41 pm US/Pacific
Detectives Trace Slain Mom, Girl's Travel Route
Victim's Sport Utility Vehicle Found Nearby
Grief Counselors Go To Hermosa Valley Elementary School To Help Students Cope
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The bodies of Marcia Harrigan, 43, and Gillian Harrigan were found about a quarter-mile south of Hearst Beach.
CBS
A sport utility vehicle filled with balloons from Disney's "High School Musical" show is one of the clues in the suspicious deaths of the Hermosa Beach woman and her daughter, 7, found in the surf near Hearst Castle, it was reported Saturday. The bodies of Marcia Harrigan, 43, and Gillian Harrigan were found about a quarter-mile south of Hearst Beach. Deputies in Central California called the deaths suspicious.
San Luis Obispo county sheriffs have not "made any formal conclusions about the cause, method or other circumstances surrounding the deaths," spokesman Rob Bryn told the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Grief counselors went to Hermosa Valley Elementary School Friday to help children and teachers affected by the second-grader's death, the Daily Breeze reported. Rescue workers who rappelled down a steep cliff to recover the bodies of the little girl and her mother were also undergoing special counseling, a Cambria Fire Department spokesman said.
Reached at his San Diego home by the Daily Breeze, Gil Vasquez, the father of Marcia Harrigan, was puzzled.
"There's a lot of unanswered questions," he said. "I don't want to go any further."
Detectives found the woman's red Montero sport utility vehicle nearby and are trying to trace the pair's travel route and activities before their deaths, the newspaper reported. Autopsies are set for Wednesday.
He said Marcia Harrigan's two older daughters were staying with their father.
A freelance photographer who watched the bodies being recovered told the Daily Breeze there was no path from a view point to the beach.
"There's no pathway to hike down," Merle Bassett told the newspaper. "There's no indication to anybody that there's a beach you should go to. They should not have been there unless they may have started out at the actual Hearst Beach and walked."
Gillian was in second grade at Hermosa Valley School and attended Hermosa View as a first-grader.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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