7 people dead in van wreck

ALTO BONITO — Purses, a pair of broken eyeglasses and a lone woman’s shoe littered U.S. Highway 83 on Monday, hours after their owners were killed in one of Starr County’s deadliest accidents in years.

Seven people enrolled in a Sullivan City adult daycare center died when the female driver of a Grand Am failed to yield the right of way to the van in which the victims were riding at about 9 a.m.

The van, carrying 10 people from La Fuente Home Health Services, rolled upon impact, 10 miles east of Rio Grande City, state troopers said.

The Grand Am’s driver — Leticia Najera, 20, of Rio Grande City — faces multiple counts of criminally negligent homicide, according to local Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Trooper Johnny Hernandez. It wasn’t clear if any drugs or alcohol were involved, though.

As investigators and family members struggled to comprehend the chaotic scene, firefighter Ramon Barrera stood stunned.

“There was blood all over the place,” he said. “It was bad.”

The impact of the morning collision ejected three men and women from the daycare center van, all of whom died at the scene.

Another woman, who sustained severe internal injuries inside the vehicle, also died, said Barrera, a member of the La Casita Volunteer Fire Department.

The van’s five survivors, including the driver, were transported to various hospitals, where three more died later that day.

Najera and her 1-year-old son sustained only minor injuries, Hernandez said.

Late Monday night, after 10 p.m., DPS officials in Austin identified the dead passengers as Rio Grande City residents:

*Leopoldo Teran, 80

*Isidro Vela, 86

*Maria Vela, 79 (Isidro’s wife)

*Guadalupe Morado, 84

*Alberta Peña, 78

*Elida Navarro, 60

*Juan Perez, 50

Local authorities were still ironing out details, declining to release further information until this morning.

As Barrera arrived on the scene, several dozen state troopers, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Starr County sheriff’s deputies swarmed the area, directing traffic and working to make sense of the wreckage.

Debris from both vehicles was strewn across the highway’s eastbound lanes and grassy median.

Bodies covered by yellow sheets dotted the roadway.

And mournful screams from family members threatened to drown out cries for help from the trapped survivors, Barrera said.

Firefighters cut off the van’s roof to rescue several survivors, but once inside they discovered a grisly scene.

While the driver, who had sustained injuries to his foot, and a passenger appeared to be conscious and alert, two elderly women were leaned against each other in the vehicle’s back area — one had already died.

While it appeared several of the van’s passengers had not been wearing seatbelts, DPS investigators had not confirmed that as of late Monday night.

A La Fuente representative at the scene, who otherwise declined to comment, said words could not convey the magnitude of the tragedy. The daycare center closed for the day at about noon, sending employees and their charges home to deal with their grief.

Later that night, family members gathered at Morado’s Rio Grande City home to mourn her death. They declined a phone interview, but said family had already begun to arrive from out of town.

For Starr County’s tight-knit community, the worst part is sure to come today.

“It’s bad,” Barrera said about dealing with the tragedy. “This was the worst thing I’ve seen in a long time.”