Victims of Fiery Car Accident Buried in Single Casket

The bodies of a 5-year-old girl and her mother, who died together in a fiery car accident, were buried in a single casket Friday at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange.

More than 100 friends and family members, including the man who had tried to rescue them, attended the funeral services for Blanca E. Menendes of Orange and her daughter, Jenny Fraga, who were killed Monday when their car was rear-ended by a San Pedro driver who has not had a valid driver’s license since 1981.

The mother, a native of El Salvador who has lived in Orange for 10 years, was well known in the community, friends said.

“They were the type of people, working hard, who came here to improve their lives,” said Father Sebastian Foix of La Purisima Catholic Church.

“The tragedy is that just when they were about to succeed and buy a home, this happened,” he said.

Carlos Ramirez, a family friend, said Menendes and Saul Fraga had planned to buy a two-bedroom home near the apartment they rented in Orange.

“Their big dream was to buy a house down the street from where they were renting,” Ramirez said. “The day before she died, they had made some plans for the house.”

On Monday, Menendes, 36, had picked up her daughter from school in Santa Ana and was returning home, Ramirez said. Police said she was stopped in heavy traffic in the 3800 block of West 17th Street in Santa Ana, when her 1973 Ford Mustang was rear-ended by James Clifford Logan, 28. The impact pushed Menendes’ car into two other cars and ruptured her gas tank.

Dwight Pfeffer of Garden Grove said Friday that he ran to the car and tried to open the door, which had jammed shut in the collision. With gasoline spilling at his feet, Pfeffer said, he reached into the car for the the child, but the gas caught fire and forced him back.

“I tried to reach into the car and the car flashed,” he said. “It sounded like a pilot light--poof--and the car was totally engulfed.” Pfeffer’s hair was singed and his leg burned.

At the funeral, Pfeffer, 26, was clearly shaken. “I did everything I could. I’ve got to believe that,” he said.

Logan, who ran from the scene, was arrested on suspicion of felony manslaughter about two hours later after relatives persuaded him to surrender, police said. He suffered cuts and bruises and remains at Orange County Jail.

Logan was convicted of drunk driving in Orange County in 1981, Department of Motor Vehicles records show. His license expired in April, 1981, and it was suspended the following August because he failed to appear for a re-examination hearing. Since the suspension, Logan has been convicted of driving without a license three times, DMV records show.

Menendes also is survived by a son, Saul Fraga Jr., 3.