Missing Bay Area motorcyclist found dead in I-80 ditch identified

A motorcyclist found dead Wednesday morning along a stretch of westbound Interstate 80 in Fairfield has been identified as Albert Martin Daniels, 57, of Vacaville, reported missing that same day.

Daniels’ employer had notified Vacaville police that the victim usually commuted to his Bay Area office on a motorcycle and had left home around 4 a.m. By 10 a.m., he had not shown up.

“We did a welfare check at his residence,” advised Vacaville police Capt. Matt Lydon on Friday. Later, Daniels’ family filed a missing persons report. “This was so out of the ordinary for him,” Lydon said he was told.

Meanwhile, officers continued their investigation and decided to ping his cell phone and see what they could find.

That ping led authorities to a patch of freeway in Fairfield and the California Highway Patrol was called for aid just before 1 p.m.

The CHP found a downed Harley Davidson motorcycle and a deceased man in a ditch on westbound I-80 near the Manuel Campus off ramp.

The time of the crash and details leading up to it remain under investigation by the CHP.