L.A. Man Sought in Fiery Crash That Killed 2 Girls

A 24-year-old Los Angeles man was being sought Monday in the fiery hit-and-run accident that killed two young girls on the Foothill Freeway in Duarte over the weekend, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Authorities identified the suspect as Natividad Urias Chavez whose state identification card was found in the brown 1979 Ford LTD that overturned on the freeway Saturday evening after it slammed into a stalled car in which the girls were sleeping, CHP spokesman Trany Morton.

Elena Ferrer, 12, and Shannon White, 10, were killed in the accident. Elena’s father, Antonio Ferrer, 50, was critically injured.

“We are putting him (Chavez) out as the suspect, based on the ID card and witness accounts,” Morton said.

Investigators were also seeking the registered owner of the LTD, although he is not a suspect, Morton said.

Meanwhile, a man whose identity was not released turned himself in to CHP officers Monday after hearing his license plate number being broadcast in connection with a three-car crash that killed three people on a Los Angeles freeway last week.

Witnesses said a car with that plate had left an accident scene last Wednesday on the Hollywood Freeway near Vermont Avenue after it made an abrupt lane change and forced a van into a third car, causing that car to plunge over an elevated section of the freeway.

Before falling, the car rolled over on one man who crawled out of the wreckage, killing him. Two other men in the car burned to death when the vehicle burst into flames.

The man who surrendered Monday “is not yet a suspect” and was not arrested, said CHP Sgt. Mike Brey. “We’re going to explore all the other avenues” in trying to recreate the events that led to the crash.