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The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau has confirmed the identity of the 90-year-old man discovered dead inside his pickup truck in a creek on his property west of Dublin last month.
The decedent was Joseph Eastwood III, the coroner’s bureau said on Tuesday. An online obituary said the ranch property on the edge of Castro Valley had been in the Eastwood family for generations.
A U.S. Marines veteran who went on to work as owner of the family business, Pacific States Steel, Eastwood is survived by five of his six children, according to his obituary. He and his late wife Elizabeth raised their kids in Danville.
“Joe was well known for his quick-witted humor and intelligence that has fortunately lived on through his loved ones. One didn’t need to use Google with Joe around as he was also known for his impressive and intriguing well of knowledge on all things history,” his obituary stated.
Eastwood’s death remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.
His body was found inside his Ford F-150 overturned in a creek on the afternoon of Feb. 18 by neighbors who had gone onto his property to search for Eastwood after having not seen him for about a week and a half, according to the CHP’s Dublin office.
CHP officers responded to the creek off Eden Canyon Road near Hollis Canyon Road at around 2 p.m. after the neighbors reported their discovery that day.
The cause of the crash was unclear, but a tire track mark on the embankment indicated the 90-year-old was leaving his property and driving toward his driveway entrance when the wreck occurred, according to the CHP. Investigators said he was unrestrained inside the truck and appeared to have hit his head on the windshield when the pickup flipped down into the creek.
