Yi Chao, 72, Simi Valley

A friend took the Cambodian immigrant to his eye doctor appointment in downtown L.A. But he decided to take the train back home.
September 15, 2008

A friend drove Yi Chao to his eye doctor appointment Friday in downtown Los Angeles. But Chao decided to take the train back home to Simi Valley, where the 72-year-old Cambodian native lived with his son Kong Chao. "I called him at 4:21 p.m.," said Kong Chao, 36. "He said he was coming home soon. . . . He was almost there at the station in Simi Valley."
When Chao got home from work, he heard on the radio that a Metrolink train had crashed. His father was still not home.Late Saturday evening, he still hadn't found his father."I called him again, again and again, but there was no answer," said Chao, choking back tears and grappling to find words. "I went to Chatsworth High School, where the families were meeting. I try to find out if he is going to hospital."
Chao said he called all of his relatives to see if they knew his father's whereabouts.He said his father was "always talkative.""He is happy in his grandson, my son. He is 5. His grandson wakes every morning and goes into his room."On Saturday at about 8:45 p.m., at the urging of a reporter who supplied the phone number, Chao called the coroner's office, which confirmed that Yi Chao had died. His name had been released more than two hours earlier.