Families of sisters from a Californian fraternity who died in an accident on the famous “Dead Man’s Curve” are suing the state

The families of four sorority sisters who were struck and killed on California's Pacific Coast Highway are suing the state and local authorities over a notorious death trap that locals call “Dead Man's Curve.”

Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams – Pepperdine University students and sorority sisters – were walking along a stretch of beach road in Malibu in October 2023 when a driver slammed into the shoulder, killing the girls and injuring another student.

The driver was speeding and was charged with manslaughter. However, the girls' parents say he is not solely to blame: The accident occurred along a well-known pedestrian death zone nicknamed “Dead Man's Curve,” where residents and beachgoers walk just inches from highway traffic.

Between 2013 and 2023, Dead Man's Curve resulted in more than 3,000 collisions, 52 deaths and 92 serious injuries, according to records presented in four separate lawsuits against the State of California, the California Department of Transportation, the California Coastal Commission, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Malibu.

Along this 1-mile stretch, crowds of visitors to a public beach are “forced to walk on unprotected shoulders with no sidewalks or crosswalks and around parked vehicles,” the lawsuits say.

“It’s like running the [interstate] “The highway goes through a residential area,” Dan Kranmer, the attorney for one of the parents, told the Post.

Kranmer said authorities were well aware of the massacre.

In 2015, the Malibu City Council approved a plan that called for 130 improvements to Pacific Coast Highway, but to date only seven of those improvements have been implemented – despite more than $28 million being invested in the projects, according to documents submitted in the lawsuits.

“They did nothing to protect pedestrians from known speeders who were traveling on this road and causing numerous deaths and injuries,” Kranmer said.

The driver who allegedly hit the four girls, 22-year-old Fraser Bohm, also hit Carlos Solloa, a Pepperdine student and co-plaintiff, who suffered “orthopedic and neurological injuries.”

Bohm is charged with murder and negligent homicide.

While Solloa and the other plaintiffs blame Bohm for his actions, Kranmer added, their lawsuits are aimed at making Dead Man's Curve safer for everyone.

One of the victims, Peyton Stewart, would have graduated with a degree in international business this year. According to her father, Barry Stewart, she already had a job lined up at TikTok.

Kranmer said Barry and his wife, Carmela, have “done everything they can to make things better” by making phone calls, attending public meetings and lobbying state and local officials.

“It was devastating for them, but I'm in awe of the strength of these parents and how hard they want to fight,” Kranmer said. “It's bad when one death occurs, but when there are 50 deaths in 10 years, at some point you have to make a change.”