Those "initial reports" are so often misleading. No intelligent details except that they crashed... landing?, taking off (or attempting to)?, enroute at altitude or running thru the valleys?, mechanical problems?, engine failure?
Having flown out of Warner Springs there are a lot of factors that could come into play depending on the above. It's mountainous so there's often turbulence, there can be long-lasting fog in the valleys, winds aloft can be significant - and then there's the pilot's medical condition, all sorts of things before anyone decides that the Bonanza is even a factor itself.
As for the "widowmaker" reputation, many of the widows were married to wealthy pilots who were shown to have operated an aircraft at or near the limit of their skills in conditions they had little experience with. You know.. get a license, run out and buy the hottest thing you can... and bear in mind this particular Bonanza could have been built anywhere in the last 58 years. IIRC, Beech never lost a product liability suit against the -35 design. However, the penchant for lawyers to support wealthy clients led to the mass of lawsuits that killed the GA industry in the US for a decade.
In the next 72 hours we'll either get meaningful data or just a bunch more media hype, including replays of the Buddy Holly Story.
Rob