A crash at a South Sacramento cemetery during Día de los Muertos has left a family grieving the loss of their 1-year-old daughter, Janessa Milagro Mazur Diaz, and the father hospitalized with serious injuries.
The crash happened just Sunday afternoon inside the cemetery on 21st Avenue and 65th Street Expressway. Janessa’s mother Jackline Patino Diaz said they had recently celebrated her first birthday last Friday.
“We were just celebrating, never in a bad mood,” Diaz said.
The child’s father was also struck in the crash and is in the ICU with injuries, including broken ribs, a fractured nose, and a fractured skull. The mother described the devastating moment she had to tell him their daughter had died.
“The first thing he asked me when I walked in the room was, ‘Where’s my baby?’ and I had to tell him she was gone,” Diaz said. “She’s not here with us anymore. It’s so crazy to think that we were just sitting at the cemetery, and he just came and ran over her, and now she’s gone. She’s not here with us.”
The driver, identified as 50-year-old Miguel Guzman, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. He faces charges including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, hit-and-run, and child endangerment.
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