The Chatsworth crash was the deadliest Metrolink tragedy in history. It took place on September 12, 2008, at 4:22 PM, involving a freight train with three crew members and a commuter train with 225 passengers. The collision left 135 people injured and 25 dead, one of which was 49-year-old Charles E. Peck. His body was found 12 hours after the crash, but for 11 hours, his cell phone placed over 30 calls to his family members. But when they answered, all they heard was static.
Who was Charles E. Peck?
Peck was a customer service agent for Delta Air Lines at Salt Lake City International Airport. On the day of the crash, he was interviewing for a job interview at Van Nuys Airport so he could move to Los Angeles and marry his fiancée, Andrea Katz. She heard about the crash from a radio news report as she drove to the train station to pick him up. Peck’s parents and his adult children from a previous marriage joined her.
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35 phone calls
They all feared the worst, but as they waited for updates, their phones rang. “You look at your phone and it’s Dad!” said Peck’s son, CJ, in a 2008 interview with Daily Breeze. “He can’t be dead.” His son, brother, stepmother, sister, and fiancée ended up recieving about 35 calls altogether from Charles Peck’s mobile phone throughout the night. But when they picked up, they heard nothing but static and faint noises.
Holding onto hope
“For us, it was just hope,” said Peck’s sister, Barbara Lopez. “We had no idea he had already perished.” Peck’s brother, Richard, had called his number back but only reached his voice mail. CJ, who was 22 at the time, hoped his father could hear them even if he was trapped under wreckage. He shouted into the phone, saying his family loves him and the authorities were coming to find him.
Found in the first car
The family called hospitals to see if he was brought there for medical help, but no one had seen him. But the firefighters became optimistic when Katz received a call from Peck’s caller ID, and they tracked his phone until they found his body. Charles Peck was seated in the first passenger car during the collision. Before the fatal crash, he had only one stop left.
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He was already dead
Peck had reportedly died upon impact. And yet, the phone calls only ceased at 3:28 AM, about 11 hours after the crash. The firefighters found his body about an hour after the last call. “Devastating,” CJ described the moment they heard the news. “You can’t believe it.” The coroners later explained his body had no indication that he survived the crash, even for a short period of time, not even enough time to make a phone call.
“I think it’s a message from my dad”
Therefore, they couldn’t explain how his cell called his loved ones 35 times. The mystery may never be solved because the phone hadn’t been recovered. But his family found some solace through the nightmarish incident. “Somehow his phone made phone calls to family members all through the night,” CJ said. “I think it’s a message from my dad, letting us know he’s not suffering.”
What caused the crash?
The Chatsworth crash was sudden, devastating, and possibly preventable, according to Snopes. Preliminary investigation showed the engineer controlling the commuter train had run a red light. The Union Pacific freight train was traveling on the same track from the other direction, and had been given the right of way. Despite this, the commuter train rammed headfirst into the freight at 83 miles an hour. Authorities believe the engineer may have been texting on the job. A teenager had come forward and admitted to having been exchanging text messages with the engineer. The final text from him had appeared about 22 seconds before impact, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The mystery of Charles E. Peck’s phone calls
Although investigators never found Charles E. Peck’s cell, many theorize his phone must’ve broken and malfunctioned, calling his speed dial list. Others say an object may have fallen on top of it, accidentally pressing on different contacts. Still, many believe the event was paranormal. Perhaps he was using the phone so the responders would find his body. And perhaps, he was reaching out to his loved ones for the last time.
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