Who died in Oakland: Victims of deadly warehouse fire remembered

Oakland city officials have said that the warehouse, which was believed to be abandoned, had not been inspected in decades.

Alameda County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly told the Times that several families received text messages, including one woman whose daughter typed, "I love you. I'm going to die, Mom."

"I think it’s important to recognize messages like these," Kelly told the newspaper. "Victims were inside and aware that they were going to die."

Kelly said recovery crews also found bodies at the scene that indicated some victims died trying to shield or comfort one another. The bodies of a man and woman were found in an embrace.

The newspaper reported that the search for victims had to be halted early Monday morning due to structural weaknesses. The search continued later in the day, and as of Monday afternoon, 33 of the 36 confirmed dead had been identified and the families of more than two dozen victims had been notified.

When the search of the rubble was completed, the death tolls stood at 36. The oldest victim was 61 years old. The youngest was 17.

Details about the victims’ lives before the fire have also begun coming out through the news media and on social media platforms. Below is a listing of those victims, along with brief biographies.

Cash Askew, 22, of Oakland

Transgender musician Askew was a member of the goth music duo Them Are Us Too. The East Bay Times reported that, in an interview earlier this year, Askew said she was drawn to goth music because of the androgyny that many of the scene's performers displayed. She and band mate Kennedy Ashylyn released their debut album last year through record label Dais Records.

Dais Records founder Ryan Martin told People magazine that Askew's death "doesn't seem to be real right now." A statement from the record label stated that Askew was "loved and admired by everyone she met, and her passing is an excruciating loss that we may never fully process or recover from."

Jonathan Bernbaum, 34, of Oakland

Bernbaum, a graduate of Brandeis University in Massachusetts and the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, interned at Pixar Animation Studios before focusing full-time on his work as a VJ, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He enjoyed creating mixes of light, colors and images for a unique visual experience.

He most recently put that into play doing shows for Australian electronic duo Knife Party, the newspaper reported. Friend Jay Fields described Bernbaum as being able to create “alternate realities” for those who experienced his shows.

"Someone who may only listen to mainstream music could take in his work and walk away devastated, stunned," Fields said. "It'd make them inspired and see things differently."

Bernbaum was a member of the music collective Katabatik, which also lost members Barrett Clark and Joseph "Joey Casio" Matlock in the fire.

A high school friend posted on Facebook that Bernbaum “died doing what he loved. Making his art and bringing joy and smiles to people who needed exactly that.”

Em Bohlka, 33, of Oakland

Bohlka was the second of three transgender women confirmed to have died in the fire. She was a poet who worked as a barista and a baker, and had begun taking hormones for her transition last year. Her father, Jack Bohlka, told the East Bay Times that his daughter hoped to move to New York City in 2017 to have a larger GLBT community around her.

Barrett Clark, 35, of Oakland

Clark was a sound engineer working at the music show at the Ghost Ship when the fire broke out. According to the East Bay Times, Clark was a member of the music collective Katabatik, which also lost members Jonathan Bernbaum and Joey "Casio" Matlock in the fire.

Friend and collaborator Michael Buchanan told the newspaper that Clark was “funny and just the most full-of-life kind of person” he’d ever met. “It’s like he touched a lot of people on a very personal level without being pretentious,” Buchanan said. “But at the same time, he was very talented and he liked to help others out when he could.”

That was one reason Clark died working at the dilapidated warehouse, which Buchanan said they knew was not in good shape.

“We knew that place was unsafe; we had many conversations about it,” Buchanan told the Times. “But he chose to take the risk because it was outweighed by his intense feelings of generosity.”

David Cline, 24, of Oakland

Cline, a recent University of California at Berkeley graduate, had studied cognitive science and computer science, and was passionate about attending electronic music shows in Oakland, according to the Daily Californian. Friends described him as a "great personality" who lit up a room.

Cline’s brother, Neil Cline, said in a statement that his family would love him forever.

"David was an incredible man, an amazing brother, a perfect son and an inspiring friend to everyone who was fortunate enough to have him in their lives," Cline said.

Micah Danemayer, 28, of Oakland

Danemayer, an electronic musician, was at the warehouse Friday night with his girlfriend to do a light show for the party, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. His friend and band mate, Devyn Fordyce, told the newspaper that they'd recently started a new band, Red Cellar.

"I’ve never met anybody so passionate, not only for his own art and music, but for everyone else’s," Fordyce said.

Danemayer’s girlfriend, Alana "Jen" Kane, was still among the missing as of Tuesday.

Billy Dixon, 35, of Oakland

Dixon, an Ohio native, was a well-known beat boxer and DJ. According to KRON in San Francisco, friends and family described him as a "great friend and an artistic guide."

"His friends and family all know him as a truly great person, and immensely talented musician, extremely intelligent, always quick with a joke and great with conversation, and a kind and compassionate soul," his loved ones said in a statement. "He always has a huge smile and a hug for everyone, no matter how long he has known them, and has an amazing gift of making people feel appreciated."

Chelsea Dolan, 33, of San Francisco

Dolan was an electronic music producer and event promoter and volunteered as a DJ for KALX, the radio station at the University of California at Berkeley. The Marin Independent Journal reported that Dolan, who went by the stage name Cherushii, was working as a DJ at the party held at the warehouse the night of the fire.

Ray Martin, the owner of a Marin ice cream shop where Dolan once worked, described her as a "wonderful" person.

"She was very sweet, very empathetic, upbeat, artistic -- just a person you really don’t want to have this happen to," Martin told the newspaper. "She’ll be very missed."

Alex Ghassan, 35, of Oakland

Ghassan, a New Jersey native, was a filmmaker who, according to NBC New York, posted video about an hour before the fire that appeared to be from inside the warehouse. His family described him as a fighter and fast thinker who leaves behind two young daughters.

"He’s an artist at heart, a wonderful dad, a wonderful son, a wonderful friend," Ghassan’s mother, Emilie Grandchamps, told the news station Monday, before news of his death had been confirmed.

Ghassan planned to soon move to Finland to be with his fiancee, Hanna Ruax, according to the East Bay Times. Ruax, who had traveled to California for a visit, also perished in the blaze.

Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, of Coronado

Gomez-Hall was an administrative assistant at a West Berkeley publishing house, as well as an avid musician. He played in the band Nightmom, according to the Daily Californian. Friends remembered him as a friendly, approachable person who was always smiling.

Michela Gregory, 20, of South San Francisco

Gregory, a student at San Francisco State University, was studying child development to work with children with special needs. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, she went to the Ghost Ship with her boyfriend, Alex Vega.

Vega also died in the fire. The couple's families believe they may have been the couple found hugging one another in the rubble of the fire.

Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek

Hoda was an elementary school teacher at the Urban Montessori Charter School, where principal David Castillo told parents following the tragedy that Hoda was "loved and full of love," the East Bay Times reported.

She was also previously a kindergarten teacher in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, which also lost art therapist Travis Hough in the fire.

Travis Hough, 35, of Oakland

Hough, a musician, was a member of the electronic group Ghost of Lightning. He also worked as an expressive art therapist at an elementary school in West Contra Costa County, the Times reported.

Johnny Igaz, 34, of Oakland

Igaz, known in the music scene as DJ Nact, was one of the featured performers at the show at which the victims died. He also had his dream day job working in the music section of Green Apple Books and Music.

ABC News reported that friends described him as having "unique warmth and charisma." Igaz was a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement who sought social equality for all.

“He was a revolutionary,” friend Demitria Ruiz-Sauliere said. “If there’s any person who could be the root for any kind of widespread grassroots movement, it was Johnny.”

Ara Jo, 29, of Oakland

Jo was a visual artist who worked at a Berkeley art and drafting supply store. The Chronicle reported that she also worked at a clothing boutique and was an organizer of the annual East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest.

Friends described her as funny, dynamic and cheerful. A friend who saw her the day before she died wrote online that she was giving and always willing to go out of her way for those she cared about.

"She was one of the most inspiring, talented, funny and caring people," Alexa Pantalone wrote, according to the newspaper. "She was family to so many. I can't imagine Oakland without her."

Donna Kellogg, 32, of Oakland

Kellogg, a barista, was working toward a culinary arts degree, according to the Daily Californian. She also had a passion for music, art and film.

"She was as vibrant and deeply loving and complex a soul that I have ever known," a friend, Michael Dean, told the Daily Californian in an email.

Kellogg's parents described her to People as a free spirit who loved music, biking and the outdoors. They plan to bury her next to her brother, who died at age 18.

Amanda Kershaw, 34, of San Francisco

Kershaw was a photographer who moved to San Francisco from Massachusetts on Dec. 2, 2008, exactly eight years before the fire in which she died.

"Photography was her passion," her husband, Andrew Kershaw, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "She loved it. And she fell in love with San Francisco."

Kershaw, who operated under her own business, Panda Snaps, could usually be seen with her black Canon Rebel camera hanging from her neck. She loved music, insects and environmental causes, the newspaper reported.

Edmund Lapine, 34, of Oakland

Lapine was a graduate of the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Calvin Johnson, founder of record label K Records, told the Olympian that Lapine was an intern there for six months a few years ago.

"He’s memorable because he’s a very snappy dresser, and we share a love for old soul 45s," Johnson told the newspaper.

Griffin Madden, 23, of Berkeley

Madden, who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley last year, was well-remembered by professors who taught him in his majors of philosophy and Slavic language and literature.

"He had a luminous way about him, a quest for knowledge and an enthusiasm for learning things," one professor, Luba Golburt, told the Chronicle. "We all remember him very fondly."

Madden, like the others killed in the fire, loved music. He ushered for five years at Cal Performances, where he got to enjoy performances of many different genres, and had recently earned a full-time position working in audience services at the venue.

Joseph “Joey Casio” Matlock, 36, of Oakland

Matlock was an electronic musician and a member of the music collective Katabatik, which also lost members Jonathan Bernbaum and Barrett Clark in the fire.

The East Bay Times reported that friends described Matlock as having a great sense of humor, with a particular love of puns. He made a name for himself as a music producer in Washington state and in Oregon before moving to Oakland.

“He was really kind of enigmatic,” friend Michael Buchanan said. “Very down to Earth at times, but with an interesting and unique way about him.”

Jason McCarty, 35, of Oakland

McCarty was a talented artist who loved to draw.

"He was incredibly talented," childhood friend Chris Escobar told the San Francisco Chronicle. "You could tell what he was drawing came from the deep recesses of his mind."

McCarty, who grew up in Iowa, moved to California after college.

Draven McGill, 17, of San Francisco

McGill, the son of an Alameda County sheriff's deputy, was a junior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, the East Bay Times reported. The teen's best friend, Julian Granados, remembered the choir student as "always down to have an adventure." Granados told the newspaper that they would spend hours together, playing video games and eating junk food.

"This is an incredibly unsettling and sad event for the Asawa SOTA community, and especially for the victim's family," Ruth Asawa SOTA principal Barnaby Payne stated in a news release. "As sad as we are today, I know that how we react in challenging times is what defines us as a community."

Jennifer Mendiola, 35, of Merced

Mendiola was a published doctoral student studying psychology at the University of California at Merced. According to the Chronicle, she was studying how close social relationships influence risk behavior and emotion.

In 2015, she co-authored a report on the willingness of Mexican immigrants to get flu vaccines for the Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Jennifer Morris, 21, of Foster City

Morris was a media studies student at the University of California at Berkeley. A junior, she died alongside her roommate, Vanessa Plotkin.

Friends described her as adventurous and compassionate, a person who loved to sing and travel.

This is devastating as Jenny was such a beautiful, intelligent, creative, caring and sincere young lady with a bright future ahead of her," her father, Michael Morris, said, according to the Chronicle.

Feral Pines, 29, of Berkeley

Pines was the last of three transgender women to die in the fire. According to GLAAAD, Pines' family said she sometimes went by the names Riley and Fyrah.

The Hartford Courant, the newspaper in the New England community where Pines grew up, reported that Pines had moved to Oakland a few months ago to be closer to friends and her brother, who lives in Los Angeles.

"She was a gentle soul, the kind of person who never had a bad word to say about anyone," Pines' father, Bruce Fritz, told the Courant. "She was someone you wanted to put your arms around and not let go."

Scout Wolfcave, a friend and former roommate, called Pines a "guide and sister" in the trans community.

"Feral was truly committed to empowering those that the world deems powerless," Wolfcave said.

Vanessa Plotkin, 21, of Oakland

Plotkin was a sociology student and student employee in the library at the University of California at Berkeley. The East Bay Times reported that she died alongside her friend and roommate, Jennifer Morris.

She also volunteered at the campus radio station, KALX, where another fire victim, Chelsea Dolan, was a volunteer DJ.

“We are beside ourselves,” Plotkin’s father, Gary Plotkin, said. “This is just like a nightmare. I can’t believe it.”

Wolfgang Renner, 61, of Oakland

German immigrant Renner was the oldest victim to die in the fire. The Chronicle reported that the musician, called “Wolfie” by friends, loved dancing, loud music and good times with friends.

A friend, who asked to remain unidentified, told the newspaper that Renner was “charming, intelligent and a little crazy.”

“He was vibrant and gregarious, and he liked being with creative people,” the woman said. “I always imagined him out there, enjoying life, and it seems like he was.”

Renner's partner, 37-year-old Michele Sylvan, also perished in the fire.

Hanna Ruax, 32, of Helsinki, Finland

Ruax was at the Ghost Ship Friday night with her fiancé, Alex Ghassan, who planned to move to Europe to be with her, according to the East Bay Times. The jewelry artist and yoga instructor was described by friends as a gentle person who could light up a room, and as a social activist who organized a protest in Finland in September after neo-Nazis beat and killed a man.

“You were taking so much care of others and everyone that sometimes you forgot yourself, but you still kept shining,” her brother, Jaakko Timonen, wrote on Facebook, according to the newspaper. “This is probably why everyone loved you and you loved everyone.”

Benjamin Runnels, 32, of Oakland

Runnels, who went by the name Charlie Prowler, was a jazz singer and musician with the synthpop band Introflirt, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A communications graduate from Southern Vermont College, the New York native worked in landscape to support his passion for playing music.

"He was one of those people who could pick up any instrument," his sister, Erin Runnels, told the Chronicle. "It would be really rare that a song, whether it was Glenn Miller or the Grateful Dead or some obscure European house music, would come on without him being able to tell you something about it."

Nicole Siegrist, 29, of Oakland

Siegrist, one half of the synthpop duo Introflirt, died alongside her band mate, Benjamin Runnels. Under the stage name Denalda Nicole Renae, Siegrist was known for her outgoing personality.

"Right off the bat, she would talk to anyone," friend and band manager Brendan Dreaper told the East Bay Times.

Siegrist, who pursued a degree in clothing and textile design in her native Nebraska before heading to California, had a passion for art, fashion and music. She included all three in her work.

"If I didn't know who she was, I would have thought Ben was playing with a different person every time," Dreaper said.

Michele Sylvan, 37, of Oakland

Sylvan, who was at the Ghost Ship with her partner, Wolfgang Renner, was described by friends and family as a creative, free thinker. The East Bay Times described the couple as "fixtures" in the underground electronic music scene.

Renner, 61, also died in the fire.

“The world is a decidedly less colorful one without them,” friend Robert Janca wrote on Facebook, the Times said. “So long, dear souls. Thank you for the treasures you shared.”

Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye, 31, of Oakland

A music manager at Shazam, Tanouye was at the music festival at the warehouse doing what she loved to do for fun -- painting quirky designs on people’s nails, according to the Chronicle. Friends said that she had set up her booth, Underground Nail Bar, somewhere in the building.

"She was a real vibrant person, always smiling and going to concerts and stuff," friend Anna Bleviss Whitlatch told the newspaper.

Alex Vega, 22, of San Bruno

Vega, who died alongside girlfriend Michela Gregory in the fire, was described by loved ones as an “old soul” who loved cars, art, photography and music.

The East Bay Times reported that, aside from working at Urban Outfitters with Gregory, Vega also worked as a valet and at a mortuary, where he spent his time assisting families grieving loved ones.

Though he had not found his career yet, his family said they believed he’d found his soulmate in Gregory.

“At least we know they were together, and maybe they died together, protecting each other,” his brother, Dan Vega, said.

Peter Wadsworth, 38, of Oakland

Wadsworth was the only victim of the fire who called the Ghost Ship home. The East Bay Times reported that it was unclear if he was at the electronic music show that night, or simply at home when the blaze broke out.

He was described by those who knew him as having a wealth of knowledge. An independent consultant, he studied psychology at Harvard.

Friends said Wadsworth had been trying to find a new home so he could move out of the warehouse, which illegally housed people, but had not been successful.

Friend Tammy Tasoff told the media that Wadsworth worked hard to make people feel special.

“He took really good care of me,” Tasoff said. “He was like my big brother.”

Nick Walrath, 31, of Oakland

Walrath, an attorney, had completed clerkships at the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court in San Francisco before signing on with law firm Durie Tangri LLP, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He planned to specialize in intellectual property litigation.

One month into his new job, he was just becoming entrenched in his first load of cases, the newspaper reported. He took his bicycle to the Ghost Ship warehouse for Friday night’s show; the bike was later found chained outside the warehouse.

"He was a lawyer, but he was so much more," his mother, Deb Walrath, told the Chronicle. "He was fiercely curious, charming and graceful. He was the person that his younger sisters and their friends all looked up to. He was the coolest kid in the room who never acted like he was cool."

The Chronicle said Walrath was one of the victims who, realizing the danger they were in after the blaze broke out, texted a loved one.

“Fire. I love you,” he texted his girlfriend.

Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward

Wittenauer, who also used the name Nex Iuguolo, was a singer with the band Symbiotix.Fungi, the East Bay Times reported. A former coworker of the musician described him on social media as "deep, beautiful and other-worldly."

"A beautiful soul we remembered with great love and sadness today," Rebecca Denison wrote on Facebook.