Guatemala Woman, 23, Among 13 Killed in California Crash

Guatemala Woman, 23, Among 13 Killed in California Crash
Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a deadly crash in Holtville, Calif., March 2, 2021. Gregory Bull/AP Photo
|Updated:

EL CENTRO, Calif.—One of the 13 people killed when the SUV smuggling them into California hit a tractor-trailer was a 23-year-old woman who was fleeing violence in Guatemala for the hope of a better life, family members said.

Yesenia Magali Melendrez Cardona had told her father she wanted to follow in his footsteps and go to the United States, where he had started a new life 15 years earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.