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Shocking news came the day before Independence Day that Caitlyn Jenner's best friend and manager, Sophia Hutchins, died in a terrible ATV accident. The woman was just 29 years old and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two weeks later, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health has determined the not-so-surprising cause of death: multiple blunt force injuries, per PEOPLE. According to the outlet, the manner of death has been ruled an accident, but the case remains open.
Hutchins was near Caitlyn's home in Malibu when the accident occurred after 11:30 a.m. local time. According to PEOPLE, the 75-year-old was at the accident site with authorities, but it's unclear if Caitlyn saw the crash occur.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officer told Daily Mail that they believe Hutchins was going too fast in the 2013 Polaris when she rear-ended a Mazda 6. "It looks like she may have been speeding and rear-ended the other car, the other party, and then that caused her to veer to the right and go off the cliff," Sergeant Eduardo Saucedo said.
He noted that it didn't seem like she was following them: "I think she just came up on them and then hit the car,” he continued. “So it looked like she tried to maneuver to go around it, but she was going too fast and just ended up clipping the rear end of that Mazda, causing her to veer off and go off the cliff there," Saucedo added.
A search and rescue team rappelled down the side of the cliff, which was a 350-foot ravine, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. No one in the other car was injured.
In gruesome pictures of the crash, the blue ATV can be seen on top of an old rusted car that seemed to have had a similar fate. The officer said the ATV was left at the bottom of the ravine because the tow company "didn't have a line that was long enough to attach it and pull it up."
An earlier Daily Mail report suggested a pickup truck hit the ATV, but with Saucedo's statement, it seems like that wasn’t the case.
Caitlyn was seen after the crash on a coffee run, telling Daily Mail she didn't "want to talk" and was going through "tough times." A source later told TMZ that Caitlyn has been a pillar of support for Hutchins' mom, Amy, and offered her a place to stay while they navigate the aftermath of her death.
Both have been leaning on each other for support, and she will be laid to rest at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Los Angeles on July 24
Amid the grief, there was one event Caitlyn had to attend: her son Brody Jenner's wedding to Tia Blanco.
Caitlyn and Sophia's friendship
Hutchins and Caitlyn met in 2015 following her divorce from Kris Jenner, and she replaced Kris as her manager. They met through their mutual hairstylist and makeup artist. “He was doing my hair one day and he said, ‘I’m going to a photoshoot right after this and Caitlyn is going to be there and Caitlyn would like to meet you,'” Hutchins said on the “Juicy Scoop” podcast in 2020.
Also a transgender woman, Hutchins said Caitlyn's 2015 and 20/20 interview inspired her to transition in college. She “made it so much more real for [him], like normal and successful people do this and people are OK when they do it," Hutchins said, per a 2016 Pepperdine article.