The driver of a U-Haul truck led police on a high-speed chase over rain-soaked freeways and surface streets in two Southern California counties Wednesday night.

The pursuit began in Riverside and ended in Orange County, police said. The driver is believed to have tripped silent alarms at a U-Haul facility in Riverside during a robbery attempt earlier in the evening.

Driven by a man with no shirt, the U-Haul truck was traveling upwards of 90 mph on the westbound 91 Freeway through Anaheim Hills at 10:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. ET) before transitioning onto the southbound 55 Freeway into Orange County.

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About 15 minutes later, he changed directions and headed north on the 5 Freeway in the Santa Ana area before transitioning back onto the 91 Freeway, this time heading east.

Roads in the area were wet as the truck barreled down nearly empty freeways. The driver fishtailed on at least three slippery on-ramps.

It appeared California Highway Patrol officials successfully used a maneuver against the moving truck, causing it spin out and crash on a freeway underpass shortly after 11 p.m. (2 a.m. ET) along State College Boulevard on the border between Anaheim and Santa Ana.

The city of Los Angeles will pay $4.2 million to the two women injured when police mistakenly opened fire on their truck during the February manhunt for a disgruntled ex-LAPD police officer who killed four people in a rampage that paralyzed Southern California.

LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich confirmed Tuesday to NBC4 that a deal has been reached with Margie Carranza and her mother, Emma Hernandez.

"The deal is relatively a very simple, very clean deal. It's a win-win for both parties," Trutanich said. "It closes this chapter in Los Angeles and LAPD history on all issues."

The $4.2 million will be split between the two women "any way they want," Trutanich said.

The shooting occurred Feb. 7 during a manhunt for Christopher Dorner. Earlier in the day, two Riverside, Calif., officers were ambushed in their police car, and authorities were on the hunt for Dorner and his Nissan Titan pickup truck.

At about 5 a.m., as the women were delivering newspapers in their Toyota Tacoma pickup in city of Torrance, police encountered them and opened fire.

Hernandez, 71, was shot twice in the back, and Carranza, 47, was injured by broken glass.

The search for Dorner ended Feb. 12 with a shootout and standoff in the Big Bear area.

Dorner was holed up in a cabin surrounded by authorities when a police tear gas canister shot into the residence started a fire. Dorner then shot and killed himself, according to deputies.

Matthew Simmons / Getty Images file

Crowds gather for the re-launch ceremony of Disneyland's Space Mountain attraction on July 15, 2005 in Anaheim, California.

California safety regulators have fined a Disney contractor $60,995 after a worker was injured while cleaning the Space Mountain ride.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health says Los Angeles-based HSG Inc. violated several safety rules. The fine was levied on Friday.

A 37-year-old contractor fell and suffered broken bones last November while cleaning the exterior of Space Mountain at Disneyland.

The Orange County Register reports the contractor was cited for failing to make sure anchors were provided to the worker.

HSG has two weeks to file an appeal. An email to the company was not immediately returned.

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Earlier this week, Cal-OSHA proposed a nearly $235,000 penalty against Disneyland in connection with the worker's injury.

Disney has not decided whether it will appeal the penalties.

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A neighborhood in southern California remained locked down on Monday after the discovery of a body of a man who neighbors said blew himself up outside his home.

The incident happened at 8 p.m. Sunday in the 3100 block of Bermuda Drive near Labrador Drive in Costa Mesa.

Someone noticed a man on the ground in a front yard and called an ambulance.

The man declined an offer of help. It wasn't until later, police and neighbors said, that he blew himself up.

"He was under his own power to get back to his own residence," said Sgt. Jerry Hildeman, of the Costa Mesa Police Department. "We believed we didn’t have any reason to go further."

The police came back and found the man dead. They believe he was wearing two pipebombs. They say it's unclear whether he committed suicide or accidentially killed himself.

Personnel from the Orange County Sheriff's Bomb Squad and Orange County Fire Authority Hazardous Materials Unit were combing through the home Monday morning after finding a second explosive that they detonated.

FBI agents assisted local authorities in case there were any federal laws broken, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman.

Authorities said they would continue to look for additional explosives before rendering the home safe and allowing residents back into the neighborhood.

Laurie Raphoon, a neighbor, was one of the residents who was evacuated.

She said she was shocked when she heard an explosion. She said it happened after a neighbor, who she described as in his late 40s or early 50s, collapsed outside his home and refused to be taken to a hospital.

"Neighbors were trying to convince him to go to the hospital," Raphoon said. "An hour or two later we heard an explosion."

Pool / REUTERS

Defendant Christian Gerhartsreiter from Germany listens to the prosecutor during his murder trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles in this file photo taken March 18, 2013.

A man who blended into wealthy East Coast circles by posing as a member of the famous Rockefeller family was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of a Southern California man whose remains were unearthed decades later in his family's backyard.

Jurors deliberated for about one day in the case of Christian Gerhartsreiter, who used several aliases that included Clark Rockefeller — a name that allowed him to fraternize with members of high society after he left Southern California following the disappearance of John and Linda Sohus.

John Sohus' remains were found by a construction crew nine years after he and his wife Linda disappeared. A father-son work crew found the remains -- Sohus' skull was in two plastic bags -- when they were building a pool in the backyard of the Sohus family's San Marino home.

Ellen Sohus, the victim's step-sister, spoke about her brother outside the courtroom. She remembered him as "the original nerd," who would set up electronic equipment and other gadgets for her.

"He was gentle, fun loving and curious — he knew everything," Sohus said.

Linda Sohus has never been located, and defense attorneys attempted to cast her as a suspect in the case.

Prosecutors presented three weeks of circumstantial evidence during the trial. In their closing argument, they told jurors that all the evidence pointed to Gerhartsreiter -- not Linda Sohus.

"The jurors rejected what was unreasonable," said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian.

Gerhartsreiter faces a penalty of 27 years to life in prison.

The German national moved to the United States in the late 1970s. He was a tenant on the Sohus' property in the upscale community (map) southeast of Pasadena at the time of the couple's disappearance.

Gerhartsreiter left Southern California for Connecticut in Sohus' vehicle and attempted to assume another life on the East Coast, according to prosecutors. The timeline of events -- including Gerhartsreiter's activities in Southern California and on the East Coast -- was presented to jurors during the trial in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

"What I have now are answers to questions that I never thought I would have answers to," Ellen Sohus said. "What happened to John? Who's responsible? And, what the defendant continued to do after he left San Marino."

He adopted the "Rockefeller" alias in an effort to move in wealthy circles, according to prosecutors. Defense attorneys argued  the defendant's aliases have nothing to do with Sohus' death, and that he is just one of many people who moved to Los Angeles to "reinvent themselves."

Gerhartsreiter called himself "Chichester" in the early 1980s when he moved to Southern California. He said he was a film student at USC and claimed he was related to Sir Francis Chichester, a famed British adventurer.

Gerhartsreiter was serving time for the kidnapping in Boston when investigators connected him to the Sohus case.

A wind-whipped brushfire spread over 170 acres overnight in Ventura County, Calif., destroying two homes and threatening about 100 more, and was still not contained as of early Tuesday morning.

The fire began with a fire in a mobile home around 3:15 p.m. on Monday, fire officials said. That home sustained damage to its roof, but was not entirely destroyed. About 400 firefighters responded as the blaze spread, with officials saying that they hoped slackening winds overnight would help them control the flames.

“I can see flames and some smoke and helicopters coming in and dropping of their water,” Judi Ortiz, an employee at a local gas station, told NBCLosAngeles.com. “You couldn’t see anything at the beginning but smoke. It’s horrific.”

Driven by 40-mph winds, the city engulfed an orchard near the city of Fillmore, north of Los Angeles.

“A couple years back we had some pretty bad fires, but nothing that came close to homes like this,” Fillmore Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Minjares told NBCLosAngeles.com. “This is pretty significant.”

No injuries have been reported as a result of the fire. Authorities lifted a mandatory evacuation order on about 160 homes early on Tuesday morning, saying they hoped to have the fire contained by sun up.

Paul Buck / EPA

Christian Gerhartsreiter of Germany (BOTTOM) speaks with a member of his defense team Brad Bailey (TOP) during a break in closing arguments in his murder trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, California, USA, 08 April 2013. Gerhartsreiter, who went by the alias Clark Rockerfeller, is accused of allegedly killing his landlord, John Sohus, in February 1985.

Closing arguments began Monday morning in the trial for a man who posed as a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family after allegedly killing a Southern California man whose remains were unearthed decades later in his family's backyard.

Christian Gerhartsreiter, who used several aliases that included Clark Rockefeller, is accused of murder in the death of John Sohus, whose remains were found by a construction crew nine years after he and his wife Linda disappeared. The father-son work crew found the remains when they were building a pool in the backyard of the Sohus family's San Marino home.

Linda Sohus has never been located.

Gerhartsreiter, a German national who moved to the United States in the late 1970s, was a tenant on the Sohus' property in the upscale community southeast of Pasadena at the time of the couple's disappearance. He left Southern California for Connecticut in Sohus' vehicle and attempted to assume another life on the East Coast, according to prosecutors.

Sohus' mother began receiving postcards written to appear as though they were from her son and his wife. Prosecutors claim the postcards were part of a ruse to convince the Sohus family that the couple had left for France.

He adopted the "Rockefeller" alias in an effort to move in wealthy circles, according to prosecutors. Defense attorneys argued  the defendant's aliases have nothing to do with Sohus' death, and that he is just one of many people who moved to Los Angeles to "reinvent themselves."

Gerhartsreiter called himself "Chichester" in the early 1980s when he moved to Southern California. He said he was a film student at USC and claimed he was related to Sir Francis Chichester, a famed British adventurer.

Prosecutors presented three weeks of circumstantial evidence during the trial. Defense attorneys have claimed it is just as likely that Sohus' wife is behind the slaying.

Prosecutors told jurors during their closing argument that all the evidence pointed to Gerhartsreiter -- not Linda Sohus.

Gerhartsreiter was serving time for the kidnapping in Boston when investigators connected him to the Sohus case.

One of the two hikers rescued from the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California said Sunday that he was in and out of consciousness while stuck in a rugged Orange County canyon.

"The last thing I could tell you was going into a lucid dream," said 19-year-old Nicolas Cendoya. "I can't even tell you when I woke up. I was in lucid dreams and hallucinations for days."

Cendoya was released from Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo in Sunday.

"I could see the helicopters flying over me every day," Cendoya said. "When the firefighters came up to me, I couldn't even believe it."

"We weren't meant to die," he said.

Cendoya and Kyndall Jack, 18, were saved last week after getting lost and separated during a hike in the Trabuco Canyon area for several days.

Jack, who was rescued a day after Cendoya, has since messaged Cendoya, thanking him for helping the pair survive.

Cendoya was hospitalized in Mission Viejo, while Jack was at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Both hikers suffered dehydration along with cuts and bruises.

Jack remained hospitalized in good condition as of Sunday and no discharge date has been set yet, according to UC Irvine Healthcare spokesman John Murray.

The search continued on Thursday for a female hiker who went missing over the weekend in Orange County's Cleveland National Forest, hours after her hiking companion was found confused and dehydrated near where the pair had parked their car.

Orange County Sheriff's officials have mounted a massive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies by air and ground for Kyndall Jack, 18, who along with her partner, Nicholas Cendoya, went missing on Easter Sunday.

Cendoya was found by a hiker about a half-mile from where he and Jack parked their car at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, said Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jason Park.

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He was "severely dehydrated and disoriented" and taken to a hospital where he was listed in serious condition.

Park said searchers will continue scouring the area near where Cendoya was found as they look for Jack, who, like Cendoya, was described as athletic and in good health.

About 40 rescue workers, some on horseback, searched for Cendoya and Jack on Wednesday, Park said.

Many volunteers joined the search, including two who became lost and had to be tracked down and rescued.

Fearing that novice rescuers could end up interfering with the search, officials have discouraged volunteers from joining in.

Cendoya and Jack, both Costa Mesa residents, called authorities about 8:25 p.m. Sunday to say they had gotten lost while hiking in Holy Jim Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest, said Gail Krause, an Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman, adding that their cell phone's battery then wore down.

Authorities could not get an accurate GPS "ping" from the phone to pinpoint the hikers' location, said Sheriff's Lt. Erin Giudice.

City News Service contributed to this report.