CREST, Calif. (KGTV) - An East County family is grieving the loss of a 72-year-old grandmother who was killed in a head-on collision Wednesday in a suspected DUI crash. The tragedy comes just two weeks after the family held a funeral for her husband.
Around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Josefina Sanchez headed to the store to buy hot dog buns for lunch, but never made it home.
"She was kind, hard working, always laughing, cheerful," said Roberto Sanchez, describing how his mother should be remembered.
For Roberto Sanchez, the grief over his mother is most unbearable in the evening.
"At night, when I'm alone, it hits me hard," Roberto said, choking back tears.
His nightmare began with a very ordinary errand run by his mother as he worked from his home in Crest. When she didn't return after more than an hour, Roberto tracked her phone location to near Coyote Ridge and La Cresta Road, about 2 miles away. A crash had shut down the road.
A witness showed Roberto a video of emergency crews working on a woman. Nearby was the Volkswagen Jetta his mom had been driving.
"I got down on my knees on the road and prayed for a miracle," Roberto said.
The miracle would not come. Josefina, a grandmother of 3, died at the scene.
The CHP says a truck driven by a 30-year-old woman crossed the double yellow line, striking the Jetta head-on. Investigators say alcohol does appear to be a factor in the crash.
"Just feels like overwhelming flood of confusion and sadness," Roberto said.
The grief is overwhelming because he and his family had just begun to mourn another loss. In late January, Roberto's father died from a heart attack in southern Mexico, in the state of Michoacan.
Roberto Sr., a former USDA agricultural inspector in San Diego, and his wife, Josefina, a former mail carrier, had moved to Mexico 3 decades ago. After the funeral, Josefina flew to San Diego to be with family, with plans to stay, when she made that fateful drive.
"It feels like a double impact, one right after another," Roberto said.
As Sanchez mourns another parent, he struggles to make sense of why his mom died.
"It's a tragic mistake. Somebody made a terrible choice to drink and get behind the wheel. It has irreversible consequences, like with my mom. She should be here and she isn't," Roberto said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses.
The CHP says the investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made.
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