Marines killed in I-5 crash near Camp Pendleton named

On Friday, Navy officials released the names of two sailors who were killed in a dawn pileup on southbound Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton.

The name of a third motorcyclist who died in the accident Thursday morning has not been released.

The two sailors were identified as Jess Davis, 38, of Tennessee, and Stephen Williams, 37, of Texas. Davis served aboard the Point Loma-based attack submarine USS Alexandria and Williams was assigned to the Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in San Diego, Navy spokesman Brian O’Rourke said.

She and the third victim were part of a group of four motorcyclists involved in a pile-up on the highway near Las Pulgas Road around 3 a.m.

The first accident occurred when a Jeep Wrangler hit a guardrail and then collided with a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. The van overturned. The motorcyclists crashed into one or both of the stranded vehicles.

Williams, Davis and a third driver died at the scene of the accident.

Paramedics took the fourth motorcyclist to a hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

Four other people were injured, the CHP reported. Two men in the Jeep – the 29-year-old driver and a 50-year-old passenger – suffered life-threatening injuries and were flown to a hospital. Two people in the Mercedes were also hospitalized, the CHP reported.

Union-Tribune writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.