I-5 mystery: Daughter of Oscar winner found dead with husband along roadside

Two prominent San Francisco patrons of the arts were found dead inside an SUV alongside I-5 near Redding earlier this week. The California Highway Patrol is describing the incident as “medically related,” according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Judith Wyler Sheldon and her husband, Wylie Sheldon were found dead Monday evening inside the running vehicle by a CHP officer, according to the news report.

Sheldon, 84, was in the vehicle’s driver’s seat and her husband, 86, was in the passenger’s seat. The CHP said the couple were found stopped on the right shoulder of northbound Interstate 5, north of Fawndale Road, according to ABC7 in San Francisco.

The agency told media outlets that both had been found unresponsive and the cause of death is under investigation.

The couple’s son told the New York Times that his parents had been found “without any water or other liquids in the car,” with the windows down. The son told the Times there were no signs of foul play or mechanical failure.

Redding was under an extreme heat warning on Monday, with temperatures above normal and a high of 109 degrees, a representative of the National Weather Service told The Los Angeles Times.

The couple were en route to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Investigators were retracing the couple’s route from the Bay Area and checking where they may have stopped along the way, according to the San Francisco Chronicle report.

CBS News Sacramento reported Wyler Sheldon was the daughter of Oscar-winning filmmaker William Wyler of Ben-Hur fame.