Eliana Moreno died from blunt force trauma, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed.
Moreno, 38, was the aerial reporter killed when the NewsChopper4 helicopter went down in Chatsworth on Sept. 15. She and pilot George Marciniw had been covering a deadly Metro bus collision for NBCLA and Telemundo 52 when the aircraft crashed.
The medical examiner’s report also listed “thermal injuries and inhalation of products of combustion” as other significant conditions that may have contributed to her death. These secondary factors point to the violent nature of the wreck, which involved both impact damage and post-crash fire.
Marciniw’s cause of death has not yet been made public by the medical examiner’s office. He and Moreno were the two people aboard the helicopter when it fell from the sky during the news assignment.
The crash claimed a third victim on the ground. Edy Gutierrez Mejia, 29, was struck by the falling helicopter and died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the same medical examiner’s findings. His death added a devastating dimension to an already tragic incident, extending the loss beyond the news crew to a bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are jointly investigating what caused the helicopter to crash. Neither agency has released preliminary findings yet, and the full probe could stretch across many months given the complexity of aviation accident reconstruction.
The Sept. 15 crash occurred while the news helicopter was providing aerial coverage of a separate fatal incident, a Metro bus collision that had already claimed lives on the ground. The assignment placed Moreno and Marciniw above the scene in the moments before their own aircraft failed, turning a routine breaking-news flight into one of the deadliest days in recent Los Angeles broadcast journalism history.
NewsChopper4 had been a familiar sight over Southern California for years, part of the aerial coverage fleet shared by NBCLA and its Telemundo 52 sister station. The loss of the aircraft and its crew prompted an outpouring from colleagues who had worked alongside Moreno and Marciniw in the competitive Los Angeles media market.
The medical examiner’s release of Moreno’s official cause of death provides the first concrete forensic details about how she perished, though it answers only one piece of the larger puzzle surrounding the crash. What mechanical failure, pilot error, weather condition or other factor brought the helicopter down remains the central question for federal investigators.
Gutierrez Mejia’s presence near the crash site underscores the unpredictable danger of aircraft emergencies in populated areas. At 29, he was the youngest of the three fatalities and the only one not connected to the news operation, simply a person near the Chatsworth location when the helicopter descended.
The medical examiner’s office has not indicated when Marciniw’s cause of death will be released, leaving one of the three victims still awaiting official documentation. The timing of such releases varies based on examination complexity and identification confirmation procedures.
Federal investigators typically examine maintenance records, pilot history, weather data, air traffic communications and physical evidence from the crash site to build a comprehensive picture of what occurred. The NTSB’s final report on the NewsChopper4 crash could take a year or more to complete, though preliminary information sometimes emerges sooner.
The NBCLA and Telemundo 52 newsrooms continue to mourn the loss of Moreno and Marciniw while covering the ongoing investigation into their deaths. The stations have not announced any changes to their aerial news coverage operations in the aftermath of the crash.
The NTSB and FAA investigation remains active with no preliminary findings released.