'The Perfect Neighbor,' a Surfer and a“ Blues Brothers” Extra: What We Know About the Los Angeles Fire Victims

They came from all walks of life: a surfer whose Malibu home served as a hangout, a fearless hang glider and an actress who appeared in 'The Blues Brothers'

Dalyce Curry/Facebook; Go Fund Me; Shelley Sykes/X California wildfire victims (L-R): Dalyce Curry, Erliene Kelley and Rory Sykes

Dalyce Curry/Facebook; Go Fund Me; Shelley Sykes/X

California wildfire victims (L-R): Dalyce Curry, Erliene Kelley and Rory Sykes

As officials continue to work to contain the destructive Southern California wildfires still burning in Los Angeles, poignant stories about the victims have started to emerge.

The death toll rose to 25, including 17 people who died in the Eaton fire and eight who died in the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Meanwhile, 26 people remain missing, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

The victims came from all walks of life: a surfer whose home served as a popular hangout in the Malibu community; a hang glider from Topanga who was regarded as fearless in his sport; a father in Altadena who shared a home with his son with cerebral palsy; and a 95-year-old woman also from Altadena who appeared in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers.

Here is what we know so far about the those who lost their lives.

courtesy Chris Wizner Randy Miod

courtesy Chris Wizner

Randy Miod

Randall “Randy” Miod

Randall “Randy” Miod, 55, who divided his time between working in restaurants and surfing, was fondly remembered as a beloved member of his Malibu community. His home on the Pacific Coast Highway was known as the “Crab Shack,” where friends could hang out.

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“He had kind of an open door policy there,” Carol Smith, Miod’s mother, told PEOPLE about her son. “He had so many friends that came and went from there, and you know, he partied a lot, and that was the lifestyle that suited him perfectly. He was the party.”

Smith described her son as handsome, smart and funny. “He was a very unpretentious guy,” she said. “He was very humble. He was not materialistic in any way.”

Miod didn’t evacuate from his home on Tuesday, Jan. 7, when the Pacific Palisades Fire broke. “He would always call me anytime there was a fire coming,” Smith said. “He was almost in tears on Tuesday when I talked to him, and he said, ‘Mom, there's another fire in the Palisades. I can see the smoke.’ I said, ‘Randy, grab your cat and go to a shelter. Don't make me worry.’ ”

She added, “I've worried so much about him because in all the fires that he's been through, he never evacuated any of them. He always stayed. He always felt that he could hose the house down with his hose.”

Smith said that her son’s remains were found the following day behind his home. “I'm proud that he turned out in the end like the person that he did,” she said.” I'll have some really good memories of him, starting from day one.”

Evelyn McClendon

In an interview with The Spokesman-Review, Jamire Calvin remembered watching movies as a kid with his aunt, Evelyn McClendon, 59, adding that she was a classical music fan and interested in politics.

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When he later found out from his father Zaire that McClendon died in the Eaton fire, Jamire said he felt overwhelmed. “All of it feels unreal, going to sleep and then waking up, and everything you have is gone, as well as your family passing away,” he told the newspaper. “So I feel like it’s still something that everybody’s still trying to take in.”

Zaire Calvin’s home was adjacent to McClendon’s in their Altadena neighborhood. He told news outlets that as he was evacuating his family to safety on Tuesday evening, he checked on his sister’s home nearby and yelled at her to get out before returning to the driveway to help his mother. “I'm thinking that she's getting out,” Calvin later told 60 Minutes.

The following day, Calvin returned to the neighborhood to find that his family’s homes were destroyed and McClendon’s car was still parked outside of her residence. A cousin later found her remains in what used to be her bedroom.

“That part, it just replays in my head like a bad nightmare over and over again,” Calvin told CW affiliate KTLA. “I try to understand what she was thinking and why she wouldn’t, or why she didn’t.”

Victor Shaw

Victor Shaw, 66, of Altadena, died in the Eaton fire on Tuesday while trying to save his 55-year-old family home, according to his loved ones.

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“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm – I had to save myself,” sister Shari Shaw, whom he lived with, told KTLA. “I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames, and I had to leave.”

Shari said she attempted to get her brother to evacuate, but Victor had health issues that limited his mobility. Family friend Al Tanner told the station that Shaw was found on Thursday, Jan. 8, on the street near his home, holding onto a water hose.

Related: See the Most Dramatic, Terrifying Photos of the California Wildfire Devastation

“I fell to the ground, and I didn’t know – I didn’t want to look at him,” Shari said. “They just told me that he was lying on the ground and that he looked serene, as if he was at peace.”

Shari acknowledged to The Los Angeles Times that became closer to her brother as they both grew up. “You know, when you’re younger, you don’t really appreciate your sibling,” she said. “As we got older, our relationship developed. ... He was a good guy.”

Annette Rossilli

A longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, Annette Rossilli, whose son and daughter both live out of state, ran a plumbing business with her late husband. “She was such a sweet little lady, very pleasant, full of life,” Fay Vahdani, the owner of the home healthcare agency that provided regular care for Rossilli, told The Los Angeles Times.

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Rossilli, 85, died in her car after refusing to evacuate from her home, the paper reported. Her body was found by firefighters on Thursday.

Numerous people — including her caregiver and neighbors, urged Rossilli to evacuate — but she wanted to stay with her pets, which included a dog named Greetly, a canary named Pepper, two parrots and a turtle, according to CNN.

“We could’ve easily taken them with us,” Vahdani, who added that Rossilli had mobility issues, told the Times. “The problem is you can never force anyone to do anything. It was her choice.”

Dalyce Curry

Known as "Momma D” to her loved ones, Dalyce Curry, 95, of Altadena, was an actor who appeared as an extra in such works as The Blues Brothers and The Ten Commandments, according to KABC.

Her granddaughter, Dalyce Kelley, last saw her grandmother around midnight on Tuesday, which was the day the fast-growing blaze in the Pacific Palisades area began, the local news station reported.

Kelley hurried over to her grandmother's house after receiving a text alert that the power had gone out. She was told by an officer in the area, "I'm sorry your grandmother's property is gone. It totally burned down," KABC reported.

"It was total devastation," Kelley said of eventually being taken to her grandmother's house, adding "Everything was gone except her blue Cadillac."

A coroner confirmed the discovery of Curry’s remains on Sunday, Jan. 12. On that same day. Kelley paid tribute to her grandmother on Facebook, writing, “We had a great run. She impacted my life in so many ways. This loss is devastating.”

Erliene Kelley

Erliene Kelley, 83, moved to her Altadena neighborhood from Monmouth, Ill., in the late 1960s with her late husband Howard, according to The Los Angeles Times. She was a retired pharmacy technician at Rite Aid, The New York Times added.

“She was an angel," Terry Pyburn, a neighbor, said. "That’s the perfect neighbor. When you see her, you have a smile.”

Briana Navarro, Kelley’s granddaughter, told The Los Angeles Times that her grandmother knew "everybody in the city," was "really sweet" and would stop multiple times to talk with people whenever they'd go out together.

After Howard’s death, the newspaper reported, Navarro’s family moved into Erliene’s home. When a blaze erupted in Eaton Canyon on Tuesday evening, Navarro evacuated her family's home. But her grandmother didn’t

"We made the choice to evacuate on Tuesday night, however my grandmother decided she wanted to stay," she wrote in a GoFundMe. "After we left, I asked my dad to go to the house to check on her.. and again, she said she was going to stay at home. She said 'It's in God's hands.' "

Navarro received her last text from her grandmother around 1:22 a.m. local time when she wrote that she was "in the living room looking out" and would take a photo of the fire, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Navarro's father then discovered that Kelley's home had been destroyed by the time he arrived, she told the paper.

“[My mother] just broke down, she knew that my grandma most likely didn’t make it out,” said Navarro. “And that kind of confirmed it for me as well.”

Erik Nickerson Rodney Nickerson

Erik Nickerson

Rodney Nickerson

Rodney Nickerson

Rodney Nickerson, 82, lived in Altadena for over 50 years. He worked as a project engineer at Lockheed Martin for more than four decades, CBS affiliate KCAL. (His wife was also an employee of the defense and aerospace contractor.)

Nickerson’s family has deep roots in the L.A. area, with his daughter Kimiko Nickerson telling Sky News that her great-grandfather, William Nickerson, founded the Watts public housing development Nickerson Gardens.

"Every laugh, every joke he told,” she told the outlet." He was a smart man. He read the LA Times from cover to cover and walked around the Rose Bowl every day.”

Related: Celebrities Who Have Lost Homes in the Los Angeles Fires, and What They've Said

She added that Rodney, who was also a grandfather, "just didn't want to evacuate," revealing that he had been living in her childhood home. "He's been in Altadena my whole life," she said.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Nickerson’s last words to his daughter on Tuesday night, as the Eaton fire erupted, were, “ ‘Everything will be cool. I’ll be here when you guys come back.' ”

The family later found him inside the home after they were permitted to return.

"He was healthy, he was ambitious … but he went to sleep and died in his bed back there.” Kimiko told Sky News. 

Hajime White Anthony Mitchell

Hajime White

Anthony Mitchell

Anthony Mitchell and Justin Mitchell

Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee who used a wheelchair, and his son Justin, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, died in the Eaton fire, according to Anthony’s daughter Hajime White.

"He said, ‘Baby, I’m just letting you know the fire's broke out, and we’re going to have to evacuate,' " White recalled of her final phone conversation with her dad to The Washington Post. "Then he said, 'I've gotta go — the fire's in the yard.' "

Mitchell, a retiree and former salesman, had been waiting for an ambulance to come for them, but it never arrived, according to The Washington Post. White said that authorities told the family Mitchell was found by the side of Justin’s bed; the family believes Mitchell was trying to save his son, who was in his 20s.

White added that the family sometimes had caregivers, but none were there when the blazing Eaton fire reached their Altadena home. She recalled hearing the news about their deaths and compared it to “a ton of bricks” falling on her.

White told the Post she had fond memories of her dad, a father of four, grandfather of 11 and great-grandfather of 10.

“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what," White said of her father. 

Go Fund Me Arthur Simoneau

Go Fund Me

Arthur Simoneau

Arthur Simoneau

Arthur Simoneau was described by those who knew him as a passionate and fearless hang glider, The Los Angeles Times reported. According to friend Steve Murillo, Simoneau, 69, was returning from a ski trip when he learned about the evacuation orders for his Topanga home as the Pacific Palisades fire was raging.

“He was heading home to save it if he could,” Murillo told the paper.  “Arthur was the kind of guy that once he put his mind to something, you couldn’t really talk him out of stuff.”

In a GoFundMe, Simoneau’s family confirmed the death of their loved one, writing in the fundraiser description: “Arthur was somebody who made a strong impression on everybody he met — and not because of his salesman’s charisma or overwhelming friendliness."

“Unfortunately, he died in the Palisades fire protecting his house doing what he did best: being a badass and doing something only he was brave enough (or crazy enough) to do,” the family added.

“He made a tremendous impact on all of us and showed so many others how to live life with a childlike eagerness that few others have,” they concluded.

Rory Sykes

Shelley Sykes remembers her 32-year-old son Rory Sykes — who died on Thursday in a cottage on his family’s Malibu property — as a “very loving, very logical but cheeky” man who had her “wrapped around his little finger.”

“He always said, ‘It isn't what happens to you in life that counts. It's what you do about it that matters,’ ” Shelley told PEOPLE.

Rory was born in the U.K. blind and with cerebral palsy. He previously appeared in the media as a young boy talking about living with his disabilities.

Rory had recently relocated to the U.S. with his mom after living in Sydney.

He lived a fulfilling life, his mom said. He went to Antarctica when he was 7 years old, and was a keynote speaker for Tony Robbins when he was 8. He also considered himself the founder of Shelley’s Happy Charity.

“He wanted to inspire people, that a blind boy can see, and a boy that was born with crisscross legs could run and walk and anything was possible," she said.

As the wildfire neared on Thursday, the water had been turned off, according to Shelley, who grew increasingly worried. “I kept popping my head out to see if Rory's cottage was okay,” she recalls.

Rory's feet swelled up before the fires due to the high heat, making it difficult for him to walk or even put on shoes. Shelley says he told her to “leave me” in his cottage and “sort yourself out” instead.

The mom later sought the help of several men in uniform because the cottage's door was locked. After about an hour, they returned with bad news for Shelley.

“The chief came and said, ‘We want you to come with us. We need you to identify.’ Well, my heart just sank,” Shelley recalled.

Kim Winiecki

Kim Winiecki, 77, a retiree and Altadena resident, was described by her friend Jeannette McMahon as funny, talkative and "articulate," telling NBC News, "We just really enjoyed her company because she really came alive.”

In an interview with The New York Times, McMahon also called her longtime friend a private person who didn’t let anyone near her property. “We respected that,” McMahon told the paper, “even though I was her closest friend.”

McMahon recalled that she and Winiecki had dinner together on Monday, Jan. 6, and then went to McMahon’s home for tea and dessert, according to NBC News. As the Altadena area was ordered to evacuate in the early morning hours of Thursday, McMahon said her friend opted to stay.

"She said, 'No, I’m OK. I’ll pack up a few things and if I need to, I’ll walk out.' “ McMahon told the outlet. “When I think about it, I just think she couldn’t leave her house. I don’t think she was necessarily thinking this is the end, but, 'How could I leave this? This is my security, this is everything to me.”

The victim’s brother, Mark, who lives in New Mexico, told the Pasadena Star-News that his late sister was at her home and didn’t get out, saying, “We love her and we will miss her wit and her humor.”

Charles Mortimer

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Charles Mortimer, 84, of Pacific Palisades, died of a heart attack in a hospital on Thursday after sustaining fire-related injuries that included burns and smoke inhalation, BBC News, ABC News and The Los Angeles Times reported.

Mortimer, a sports fan, lived his “life to the fullest,” his family said, according to ABC News. "He will be remembered as a man with a quick wit, a brilliant mind, and a love for his family. His infectious smile and never-ending sense of humor will be greatly missed by his friends and family all over the world.”

Zhi Feng Zhao

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office announced on Jan. 14, that Zhi Feng Zhao, 84, died at his Altadena home as a result of the Eaton fire, the BBC, KTLA and LAist reported.

Read the original article on People