A skydiver who plunged to her death in a horrific midair collision in Southern California once feared she was a “deathwish time bomb” — a chilling warning uncovered in a decade-old blog post.
Georgia Jean, 56, of South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Illinois, were killed Friday after their parachutes became tangled during a jump near Lake Elsinore, sending both women crashing to the ground.
Jean, a self-described mystic and former comedian, appeared to foreshadow the tragedy in a 2015 blog post detailing her rocky start in the sport.
The 56-year-old revealed she had failed the first level of skydiving training three times before an instructor told her she “just can’t skydive.”
But Jean said she eventually conquered her fears, including the nagging worry that she could be a “deathwish time bomb.”
“Whether my instructor was right or not about limitations my body/mind had… I was able to overcome them, AND the incredible fear that I might be a ‘deathwish time bomb’ just waiting to go off,” she wrote.
Jean later dabbled in competitive skydiving, according to her Facebook page, winning a bronze medal with team “First Froth” in 2024 in a “mixed formation skydiving” event.
Pimentel, meanwhile, was a seasoned professional who served as lead instructor at iFLY Naperville, an indoor skydiving facility in Illinois.
She had worked at the company for more than eight years and hosted training camps where she taught aspiring skydivers, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The 29-year-old described herself on Facebook as an “optimist” and “hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams.”
The two women had known each other before the fatal jump. Jean had expressed interest in attending one of Pimentel’s tunnel camps in 2027, according to an August social media post.
Both were visiting from out of town and apparently made the jump together, according to Skydive Elsinore.
The skydiving company said neither woman experienced mechanical failures. Both parachutes opened at the expected altitude, and there were no reported irregularities during their freefall.
The company, which operates in the Inland Empire, said it was devastated by the loss.
“Skydive Elsinore extends its deepest condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of both skydivers, and is grieving alongside all those affected,” the company said.
Strong winds were present at the time, with gusts reaching up to 20 mph. It remains unclear whether the conditions played a role in the collision.
The women were about 150 feet above the ground when they collided. First responders found both at an airfield suffering from “major traumatic injuries.”
