Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times/MCT
In Los Angeles, California, Elijio Fernandez, 54, mourns the loss of his three brothers, Leonardo Fernandez, 45, Genaro Fernandez, 41, and Raudel Fernandez, 49. They were among five people killed when their van was struck by a suspected drunk driver in Nevada while making their way back to Los Angeles after visiting a sick relative in Denver, Colorado.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013 | 12:01 p.m.
From left, Ruben Fernandez, 15, and his brothers Robert, 22, and Anthony, 18, mourn the loss of their father, Leonardo Fernandez, on the front steps of his home in Los Angeles, California, on April 1, 2013. Leonardo Fernandez, 45, his brothers, Genaro Fernandez, 41, and Raudel Fernandez, 49, were among five people killed when their van was struck by a suspected drunk driver in Nevada while making their way back to Los Angeles after visiting a sick relative in Denver, Colorado.
LOS ANGELES — Three brothers and their families piled into a Chevy Astro van and made the long haul from East Los Angeles to Denver to say goodbye to a dying patriarch.
Their oldest brother, Elijio Fernandez Jr., 54, stayed behind. He didn’t have it in him to go. He never forgave his dad for abandoning them as children.
Now the dull bitterness of a father’s long-ago absence was entwined with wrenching fresh grief.
As the family returned on Interstate 15 through Nevada in the predawn dark Saturday, the teenage driver of a Dodge Durango slammed into the back of their vehicle 30 miles south of Mesquite.
The van spun, flipped over and rolled off the highway, ejecting five people before landing amid the creosote and sage brush.
All three brothers — Genaro, Leonardo and Raudel — were killed, as was Belen, Raudel’s wife of 33 years, and Angela Sandoval, a sparkling bit of a prankster at Eastmont Intermediate School in Montebello, dead at 13.
Her big brother, Eddie, and mother, Maria Cardenas, who was Leonardo’s girlfriend and driving the van when it crashed, were taken to a hospital in critical condition. Eddie lost a leg in the accident, a relative said.
Their family can’t believe a trip to comfort an ailing 79-year-old ended so catastrophically.
Elijio Fernandez Jr. has to force himself to speak or eat now. He had only coffee and water on Sunday. He came to the gray duplex on Northside Drive where his younger brothers Genaro, 41, and Leonardo, 45, lived side-by-side with their families. He had to summon the energy just to water their front lawn on Monday.
He had often visited to play with his nieces there. Now he seemed lost and drained. “I don’t think we’ll be able to move on until we can bury them.”
The white calla lilies at the foot of the home were a reminder the brothers didn’t make it back for Easter.
He lost another brother six years ago, and said he can’t bear another funeral.
“I’m just barely feeling a little bit better and now we have to go through it again.”
At one point, he stood by the iron fence with his head down, saying, “I lost my little brothers.”
Family members trickled in and sobbed on the front lawn. The brothers’ mother arrived from Mexico, hugging relatives and crying, “my little ones.”
“I want to take them back (to be buried) so we can be close,” she said.
Neighbors and friends stood in disbelief, and classmates of Angela laid down roses and votive candles.
“I’m going to miss that little girl,” said Maria-Elena Ramirez, 59, on Monday. “She was always walking around with a smile on her face.”
The brothers were working-class men born in Zacatecas, Mexico. Genaro was a welder who loved to host big barbecues at his house. Leonardo was a construction worker, landscaper and meat-cutter at Bob’s Market in Whittier.
After news of the accident, Leonardo’s four sons arrived wearing Dodger apparel because their dad and uncles loved the team.
“It’s like a dream,” said Leonardo Fernandez Jr., 25, the oldest son. “I don’t even have any words to express myself.”
He said he was saddened that the driver who rear-ended the family’s van had allegedly been drinking. “People need to take it serious. You hear it all the time. ... It can happen to anyone,” he said.
That driver, Jean Ervin Soriano, 18, told authorities he had “too many” Budweisers before he hit the van about 3 a.m. Saturday. Nevada Highway Patrol officers said they found empty beer bottles in Soriano’s Durango. He and his 23-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries and were released from the hospital.
Soriano, who appears to have family ties to the Mission Viejo, Calif., area and Utah, was booked on suspicion of killing five people and seriously injuring two others while driving drunk, driving without a license and failing to slow down. Prosecutors are awaiting the results of blood tests before filing charges. The teenager is scheduled to be arraigned April 10 in Clark County and is being held in lieu of $3.5 million bail.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy