SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A Chula Vista mother is suffering more heartbreak after her daughter's phone disappeared from her car and the tow yard, following a deadly crash.
Norma Wright got the call two Saturdays ago.
“It was a dream, a nightmare. My little girl was gone,” said Wright.
Her 30-year-old daughter Catheryne Wright had been killed in a single-car crash on the I-805 S, near Home Avenue.
“We’re told there was smoke coming out of the back of her car. Her tire got punctured or something, and they’re not sure why. She lost control of her car,” said Wright.
Catheryne, a longtime volleyball coach in the county, including at Foothills Christian High in El Cajon, had recently started a job as a coach at the University of Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles. Wright says her daughter was strong, independent, loving, and passionate about volleyball.
“Your life is torn apart at the loss of a child,” said Wright.
Wright says after the crash, the CHP had Loyal Towing tow the car to the company's Logan Heights facility.
Lost in grief, Wright says she pinged her daughter's phone that weekend, and it was at the tow yard.
On Monday, when she and other family arrived at the tow yard, she says they found the car outside the fenced-in area and unlocked. The phone, full of her daughter's photos, was not in the car.
“It's her life to me. It's priceless to me,” said Wright.
Throughout that day, Wright believes the phone turned on and off, each time pinging at the tow yard. Family members went back and searched the car two more times but turned up nothing.
The next day, she says the phone started pinging in the South Bay, before ending up where it was as of Thursday, in Tijuana.
“It puts more devastation on you. The phone should be with me. It tears me apart,” said Wright.
Wright says receipts show Catherine bought items at several stores before the crash, items also missing from the car.
She says the CHP confirmed they didn't remove those shopping bags or her phone, and no items flew out of the car.
Wright says when her family complained to the tow yard, they were eventually told that because the car was totaled, it wasn't in the secure area.
She says that explanation isn't good enough.
“They should secure cars so no one goes in them … You want all her memories, and they're gone,” said Wright.
Wright has filed a formal complaint against the tow yard with the CHP.
ABC 10News reached out to Loyal Towing, and are waiting to hear back.
A Gofundme campaignhas been set up to help with the memorial services.
