Four killed in crash, offer your condolences

EL PASO -- What started as a fun night around a bonfire in a popular desert hangout in East El Paso turned into a tragedy for a group of friends on the way home when four of them were killed Thursday morning in a three-car crash.

The crash occurred about 12:45 a.m. on Zaragoza Road between Rich Beem and Edgemere.

Police said one of the drivers, Michael Fraley, 21, was drunk and was charged in the deaths.

Five others, including the driver of one car, were hospitalized.

The dead were identified as Ashley Sherie Gonzalez, 19; her boyfriend, Lance Mireles, 20; and two friends, Brian Chavez, 21; and Jesse Noel Acosta, 20.

The sorrow was heavy Thursday night outside the Gonzalez home where friends and family members gathered to mourn her loss.

"She was an angel," said her brother, Michael Gonzalez, 17, who was injured in the crash. "She did not want anybody to be unhappy."

Police said Fraley, who was driving a 2001 Toyota Tacoma south on Zaragoza Road, lost control of the pickup, overcorrected and veered into the left southbound lane.

The truck sideswiped a white 2005 Dodge Neon, driven by Chavez, who then lost control and slid sideways and hit a tan Buick Century, police said. Anthony Derek Huerta, 27, was going north in the Century, police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.

The Tacoma rolled several times after the initial impact with the Neon, but none of its passengers were seriously injured, said Michael Gonzalez, who was sitting in the back seat and recalls rolling and leaving the vehicle with minor scratches.

"I lost my friends, I lost my family. I'm not lucky," he said.

Michael Gonzalez said the Tacoma didn't hit the Neon. It was Chavez who got too close to the Tacoma causing Fraley to lose control of the truck sliding alongside the Neon and eventually rolling over, he said. Because the Neon was on the left lane, it hit the Century going north on the road.

"It wasn't even his fault," he said.

Alcohol and speeding were factors in the collision, police said.

Fraley was charged with four counts of intoxicated manslaughter and one count of intoxicated assault. He is being held in the El Paso County jail on $50,000 bond on each count.

"We don't blame him. Mike (Fraley) is a really good guy," said Frank Gonzalez, Ashley Gonzalez's father, on Thursday. "He's already paying for what happened by losing four friends at once."

A 16-year-old girl in the Neon survived and was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. While police did not release her name, friends identified her as Stephanie Ochoa.

Michael Gonzalez, and his girlfriend Danielle Leigh McGriff, both 17, received minor scratches in the crash. Lauren Dominguez, 20, who was also a passenger in the truck, was not injured, police said.

Huerta was taken to Del Sol Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Friends, who gathered at the Gonzalez home Thursday evening, laughed recalling how they nicknamed Ashley Gonzalez "Kanga," because of an instance that she didn't know how to spell the word kangaroo. They also talked about her distinctive purple, gray and blue beanie she wore all the time to hide her face.

"But she was so beautiful," Michael Gonzalez said.

The deaths bring to 57 the number of traffic fatalities in the city limits so far this year, compared with 52 at the same time last year.