Editor’s note: This story is the fifth in a series for The Star’s annual year in review and focuses on breaking news in Ventura County.
Crime, natural disasters and accidents were among the tragedies that struck Ventura County throughout the year.
There were tragedies like two county residents who were attending a bachelor party in Reno who died after a shooting incident. And two Ventura County women lost their arms in separate incidents in the city of Ventura, a month apart.
Natural disasters like the wildfires that tore through Southern California in January kept county residents on edge just months after the Mountain Fire erupted in late 2024.
Man-made disasters in Ventura, like a shoring failure causing the ground to fall beneath a nearby business, and a gasoline spill just from a year before, forcing residents to erroneously leave their homes, also caused a stir.
Those stories were among 10 breaking news stories in 2025.
Deadly, destructive wildfires erupt across the county
As fierce Santa Ana winds pummeled the region in January, the deadly and destructive Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in Los Angeles County and a spate of blazes ignited locally.
One person died in the Olivas Fire that started on Jan. 8 in the Santa Clara River bottom near Ventura. A day later, the Kenneth Fire broke out near the Ventura County and Los Angeles County border and quickly topped 1,000 acres. The blaze was stopped before reaching nearby homes, officials reported.
In all, the number of outdoor fires in the county far outpaced any other January over the past five years, officials said. The list included the Auto Fire from mid-January that started in the Santa Clara River bottom, and the Laguna Fire on Jan. 23 that ignited near CSU Channel Islands.
Westlake father and son die in Simi Valley plane crash
Paul Berkovitz, 69, his son Matthew Berkovitz, 36, and their dog, Brody, died after their plane crashed into two Simi Valley homes the afternoon of May 3.
The elder Berkovitz was piloting the aircraft, a self-built Vans RV-10 single-engine plane, out of General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster, heading to Camarillo Airport, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane crashed into two homes on High Meadow Street in the Wood Ranch neighborhood of Simi Valley, authorities said. No occupants of the homes were injured in the crash.
The agency published a report on June 5, recounting the events, but is still investigating the cause of the crash.
Shoring failure at Ventura construction site
One side of a huge pit at a construction site in Ventura collapsed in May, damaging multiple properties on Front Street and pausing work on a four-story apartment building.
“Shoring” refers to measures taken to stabilize a building or an excavated area so it doesn’t collapse while it’s under construction. At the Front Street construction site, the shoring at the eastern end of the pit dug for the foundation failed, which undermined the pavement on a parking lot next door and pitched a handful of vehicles over the edge. Two buildings next to the site were red-tagged by the city, which means they were unsafe to enter.
Both the developer and the city are investigating the cause of the collapse. In the meantime, work on the 88-unit apartment building planned for the site was on hold for most of the year.
Ventura woman gets arm reattached after train accident
Elieah Boyd, a 24-year-old surf instructor from Ventura, was crossing the train tracks on July 7 near Seaward Avenue when a train passed by and tore her arm off.
Boyd, was helped by a good Samaritan at the scene before Ventura authorities arrived to provide first aid, recover her arm and transport her to the Ventura County Medical Center.
The hospital’s doctor contacted a colleague at UCI Medical Center in Orange, who was able to confirm that a surgery to reattach the Ventura woman’s arm would be possible.
The 24-year-old was flown to the hospital in Orange, where, after 10 hours, a team of surgeons was successful in reattaching her arm and has been on the road to recovery since.
Two county residents attending bachelor party dead from Reno shooting
On July 28, a gunman fired 80 rounds at a group of people standing outside Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, killing three people. Two Ventura County residents, 33-year-old Andrew Canepa and 33-year-old Justin Agulia, died, and two other locals were injured.
The four men, all members of Thousand Oaks High School’s class of 2010, grew up together and remained friends long after graduating. At the time of the shooting, they were waiting for an Uber to the airport, having spent the weekend celebrating a friend’s bachelor party.
Canepa was the father of a young son, the co-owner of popular Newbury Park restaurant Side Street Cafe and an advocate for victims of gun violence.
Agulia was an electrician and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Woman loses arm after tree falls on her at Ventura miniature golf course
A Santa Paula woman lost her arm after a 40-foot palm tree fell on top of her Aug. 6 at miniature golf course Golf N’ Stuff.
Adela Magaña, 53, at the time of the incident, visited the sports venue Golf N’ Stuff in Ventura with her family to celebrate her youngest son’s 13th birthday. She was sitting on a bench watching her children putt when one of the many trees at the location collapsed.
Surgeons at Ventura County Medical Center tried to save her right arm, but the nerve and blood vessel damages were extensive and the arm had to be amputated the next day.
Three teens sentenced to juvenile facility for Simi Valley hate crime
A Ventura County judge sentenced three teenagers in November to more than six months in a juvenile facility followed by electronic monitoring after they were charged for attacking a young Black man and others outside a Simi Valley movie theater.
The three minors—one the child of a Simi Valley Police Department employee—were charged with felony assault with the special allegation of a hate crime stemming from an Aug. 1 Regal Cinema incident.
Videos of the fight circulated online, showing perpetrators using racial slurs. Michael Robinson, 18 at the time of the incident, was treated at the hospital for a possible concussion, chipped tooth and abrasions.
Two other teenagers were not charged with hate crime in relation to the same incident.
Body of missing Ojai Valley woman found
More than a year after she was reported missing, Zyanya Valora’s body was discovered Sept. 24 near the Ventura Riverbed.
Valora was last seen June 24, 2024, at her family’s home in the 11000 block of North Ventura Avenue in Mira Monte, an unincorporated community in the Ojai Valley. She was 21 at the time of her disappearance.
On a website dedicated to finding Valora, her parents wrote that she was autistic and had a tendency to wander off. They believed someone may have abducted their daughter after she left her home.
The medical examiner did not find any obvious signs of trauma to her remains.
Ventura warns tap water unsafe
Two days before Thanksgiving, Ventura officials issued an order for customers in the Pierpont area not to use their tap water.
Laboratory testing had apparently detected trace amounts of gasoline nearby in the city’s water supply. The order, however, was lifted a day later after officials said incorrect lab tests had caused a false positive and the water was safe.
The incident came more than a year after a gasoline leak was traced to the Sinclair gas station on Harbor Boulevard. The gasoline had contaminated soil and spilled into groundwater and a city sewer line in the area, officials said. Clean up efforts, overseen by a regional water board, were ongoing.
Double homicide in Simi Valley tied to son
A Simi Valley couple shot Nov. 30 at their home in the Wood Ranch neighborhood died from their injuries, and their son was later identified as their shooter.
Eric G. Cordes, 63, and Vicki Cordes, 66, were gunned down by Eric’s son Keith Cordes, 37, of Kentucky. After the incident, Keith drove to Chino’s Ayala Park where he lit his car on fire and shot himself.
Eric Cordes’ employer, Adventist Health Simi Valley, described Eric as a highly respected radiologist and beloved physician.
As of late December, detectives with the Simi Valley Police Department said they continue to investigate the circumstances and motive for the deaths.
Staff writers Makena Huey, Cheri Carlson, Tony Biasotti, Tom Kisken, Wes Woods II and Joe Curley and editors Stacie Galang and Yuri Nagano contributed to this story.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com, 805-437-0224 or @ecentenoaraujo on Instagram and X.
2025 Year in review
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Wildfires, shootings, plane crash top county’s breaking news in 2025
Reporting by Ernesto Centeno Araujo, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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