An amputee and his son with cerebral palsy are among the 24 fatal victims of the fires that are raging. The father was found next to his son’s bed.
One of the victims told a relative he didn’t want to leave. He died trying to fight the fire that consumed his home of more than 50 years.
Another victim, an 85-year-old woman, refused to leave her home as the Palisades Fire approached, preferring to stay with her beloved pets. A former Australian child star was also among the fatalities, as well as a Malibu resident and surfer who was considered a “people magnet.”
Eight of the 24 deaths appear to be related to the Palisades Fire near the Southern California coast, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Another 16 deaths were attributed to the Eaton fire, which occurred east of Los Angeles.
The full death toll will not be known until it is safe for investigators to enter neighborhoods where there are downed power lines, gas leaks and other dangers, authorities said.
Here’s what we know about the victims:
Annette Rossilli
Annette Rossilli, 85, insisted on staying at her Pacific Palisades home with her dog Greetly, her canary Pepper, her two parrots and her turtle, according to Luxe Homecare, the company that provided her in-home care. three days a week.
The Palisades Fire, the largest of several fires, began Tuesday morning. Rossilli was encouraged to leave that same afternoon.
Later, a care provider offered to pick up Rossilli, even though it was her day off, explained Fay Vahdani, president of Luxe Homecare, on Friday. Neighbors tried to convince her to leave, but Rossilli refused to leave.
On Wednesday, firefighters found Rossilli’s body in his car, according to Vahdani and the victim’s family.
Rossilli has a daughter and a son. For many years, she owned a plumbing business in Pacific Palisades with her late husband. He continued to live in the same house after his death.
She was a kind, friendly and grateful person who had many friends in the community and will be greatly missed, according to Luxe Homecare.
Anthony e Justin Mitchell
Anthony Mitchell, an amputee who uses a wheelchair, last spoke to his daughter, Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, on Wednesday morning, his wife confirmed to the Washington Post.
He told his daughter he planned to evacuate his home in Altadena, a neighborhood north of Pasadena in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Mitchell and his adult son Justin, who has cerebral palsy, lived together, White revealed to the newspaper.
They were never removed: White confirmed that authorities told him Mitchell’s body was found next to his son’s bed.
“He wasn’t going to leave his son behind. It didn’t matter what happened,” White reiterated to the Post. “It’s very difficult. It’s like a ton of bricks fell on me.”
Erlene Kelley
Erliene Kelley chose not to go out on Tuesday night with her granddaughter and her family. She wanted to stay in the Altadena home where she had lived for more than 40 years.
“It’s in God’s hands,” Kelley told family members, according to her granddaughter, Briana Navarro.
Navarro wrote in a GoFundMe post that the family was notified Friday that Kelley had died in the Eaton fire.
“We made the decision to leave on Tuesday night, but my grandmother decided she wanted to stay,” Briana Navarro wrote. He later asked his father to go see Kelley, who once again refused to leave.
Navarro’s father returned to the house on Wednesday and discovered it had been destroyed by fire.
Navarro, her husband and their two children lived with Kelley. They lost everything in the fire, according to the publication.
Victor Shaw
According to KTLA, 66-year-old Victor Shaw decided to try to fight the Eaton fire with a garden hose rather than evacuate his longtime home.
The Los Angeles County coroner confirmed his death, noting that he died at home due to smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
Shaw lived with his younger sister, Shari Shaw, who told KTLA that the intensity of the approaching fire forced her to leave Tuesday night, but that her brother insisted on staying.
Rodney Nickerson
In one of his last phone calls, as the Eaton Fire approached his Altadena home, Rodney Nickerson said, “Son, the winds are getting really, really high.”
The son, Eric Nickerson, remembers every word of that last conversation with his father. They were very close and spoke every day.
“It was a normal conversation. Like most mornings,” Eric Nickerson told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday.
Young Nickerson recalled not being able to contact his father that Tuesday, nor the following morning.
After other family members and friends learned of Rodney’s death, they had difficulty breaking the news to their son.
“They didn’t know what to tell me,” Eric Nickerson recalled. “They didn’t really know what words to say to me because of the situation.”
The tight-knit, working-class neighborhood where Rodney Nickerson lived for more than 50 years – and where his son grew up – was virtually destroyed by fire.
“It’s devastated,” laments Eric Nickerson. “It looks like a movie set.”
Rory Callum Sykes
A former Australian child star died when the Los Angeles wildfires destroyed his family’s Malibu, California, property earlier this week, according to his mother.
Rory Callum Sykes was at the family property, Mount Malibu TV Studios, where he had his own cottage, when it caught fire during the Palisades Fire on January 8, his mother Shelley Sykes wrote in X Thursday.
Shelley Sykes described her son, who appeared in the 1998 British television series “Kiddy Kapers”, as “beautiful” and “wonderful” and said she was “completely heartbroken” by his death.
Sykes said he tried to put out sparks from the fire on the roof of his property with a hose, but was unable to do so because the water was not working.
“He said, ‘Mom, leave me’ and no mother can leave her child. And I have a broken arm, I couldn’t lift it, I couldn’t move it,” Sykes told Australia’s 10 News First.
His 32-year-old son was born blind with cerebral palsy and became famous for his speeches about overcoming his disability. He co-founded Happy Charity, which, according to its website, offers “Hope, Happiness and Health to those who are suffering”.
On his website, Sykes described himself as a professional speaker and consultant for many companies, including the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
“He overcame so much with surgeries and therapies to regain his vision and learn to walk. Despite the pain, he was still excited about the idea of traveling the world with me, from Africa to Antarctica,” wrote Shelley Sykes on X.
Randall “Randy” Miod
Randall “Randy” Miod, 55, died in the place he loved most: his home.
According to his mother, Carol Smith, Miod lived in the Malibu beach house for decades.
Detectives found human remains in Miod’s home, Smith confirmed, telling CNN that all of his roommates have been accounted for.
“[A casa dele] it was his most precious possession. This is the only home he’s ever had,” Smith said. “He felt so blessed to be able to live in Malibu. It was his dream come true because he had been surfing since he was a teenager.”
About 30 years ago, Miod rented an apartment attached to the house. After 13 years, the owner offered to sell the house for a reduced price – an opportunity Miod took advantage of.
From then on, the house on Pacific Coast Highway became known locally as “the Crab Shack,” Smith continues. Miod had an open-door policy where friends were constantly coming in and out of the red barn-style house built in 1924.
“He was kind of a magnet for people. And people loved him and he loved people. He was a very kind person,” adds Smith. “There was always a party, wherever Randy went, there was a party.”
Miod was determined to protect his beloved home.
When they spoke on the phone Tuesday, he told Smith he had a garden hose ready to go. She believed he didn’t know how big the flames would reach.
“He had been through so many of these fires and came out unscathed. I guess you thought you could do it again,” Smith said. “Now that I realize how many memories he had in that house, I can see why he didn’t want to leave.”
Miod, who has lived his entire life in California, has spent most of the last few decades running restaurants and surfing.
“He used to skip classes in high school to go surfing. I remember one time I had to hide his surfboard,” Smith laughed. “I told him, ‘You should be in school. You’re not supposed to be on the beach.’”
She said the last year has been difficult for Miod as he lost his job at the restaurant, broke a finger and had to say goodbye to his cat of many years. However, Smith said that he always maintained a positive outlook on life and looked for the positive despite the difficulties. Recently, he even got a new kitten.
“He was one of a kind…I never met another one like him,” Smith said.
Charles Mortimer
The Los Angeles County coroner identified Charles Mortimer as one of the victims of the Palisades fire.
Mortimer, 84, died at an area hospital on Jan. 8, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The causes of death are acute myocardial infarction, effects of smoke inhalation, thermal injuries and atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.
Dalyce Curry
The remains of 95-year-old Dalyce Curry were discovered in the ruins of her Altadena home, CNN affiliate KABC reported Monday. The medical examiner confirmed the news to Curry’s family Sunday night.
CNN reached out to the Los Angeles County coroner for comment but did not immediately hear back.
According to KABC, Curry was reported missing after the Eaton Fire burned down her home, which raised concerns about her safety.
Dalyce Kelley, Curry’s granddaughter and part-time caregiver, had dropped her grandmother off late one night after a hospital visit. Unaware of the fire’s potential, Kelley went back to check on her grandmother after receiving warnings about power outages, KABC reported.
When Kelley arrived at the scene, an officer reported the property was missing. Kelley remembers the officer telling her, “I’m sorry to inform you that your grandmother’s house was completely destroyed,” as she approached the barricade.
“It was total devastation,” Kelley told KABC. “Everything was gone except his blue Cadillac.”
Known affectionately as “Momma D,” Curry had a vibrant presence and was part of Old Black Hollywood in the 1950s, appearing as an extra in classic films like “The Ten Commandments” and “Lady Sings the Blues,” according to KABC.
