HAYWARD, Calif. -- A woman, possibly attempting to flee police in a stolen car, careened off a highway on-ramp early Friday and was killed when the vehicle flew over a guardrail and crashed through a fence, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Authorities said at about 2:45 a.m. a Hayward police officer spotted a vehicle reported stolen from a nearby BART station. He made eye contact with the female driver who sped away and the officer lost sight of her.

While the search continued, a security guard at the Fairfield Inn on Industrial Boulevard near state Highway 92 found the Saturn on its roof in the hotel's rear parking lot, the CHP reported.

Arriving officers found the twisted remains of the car at 3:17 a.m. with the body of a young woman between the ages of 20-30 inside.

"Obviously, she took the ramp too high of a rate of speed," said CHO Officer Oscar Johnson. "Maybe in her mind she was still trying to elude police…We know they (the officer and the driver) made eye contact."

The identity of the victim had not been released and the circumstances surrounding the crash remained under investigation.

Hayward police said the Saturn had been stolen the previous night from the Bay Area Rapid Transit parking lot in Hayward.