Friends to Take In Girl Who Lost Family : Tragedy: Old bonds strengthen after accident kills parents, brother.

Friendship, when it is real, can outlast time and distance and even death.

In times of turmoil it is familiar and comforting--something that 7-year-old Yesenia Medina needs now more than ever before.

Yesenia’s parents, Ernesto Antonio Medina and Anna Luz Medina, were killed in North Hills last week when a driver allegedly under the influence of drugs broadsided their car. Yesenia and her 11-year-old brother, Carlos, suffered critical injuries.

Carlos died Thursday.

“I’m going to miss them a lot,” Yesenia said, speaking from Childrens Hospital in a soft, frightened voice. “I think they’re with God and they’re gonna be fine.”

Although Yesenia has lost nearly all of her biological family, she is not alone. The child has inherited a years-long friendship, one her grandmother, Anna Elsy Rojas, hopes will help her through the rough days ahead.

When she is released from the hospital, Yesenia will be cared for by Juan and Esther Linares, close family friends and the parents of Yesenia’s best friend, 9-year-old Patricia Linares.

“She’s coming to live with us,” Juan Linares said. “She must be with my daughter. They’re always together. They love each other.”

Theirs is a generational friendship, passed down from mother to daughter and son to father.

Rojas and Esther Linares’ friendship goes back more than 17 years, when both still lived in El Salvador. The two met through Linares’ brother, who was a mechanic in the island town of La Calzada, where Rojas lived.

In the late 1970s, the Linareses moved to Los Angeles, and shortly after Rojas moved too.

“We’ve got a close relationship,” Esther Linares said. “She knows I count on her and she counts on me.”

The two live next door to each other in a Van Nuys apartment building, the Linareses in Apartment 6 with their two children, and Rojas in Apartment 7. The children were often with Rojas and Esther Linares because of their parents’ hectic work schedule. They share meals and conversation and keep each other company.

“She’s a good grandmother,” Esther Linares said.

Rojas’ grandchildren and the Linares’ children have grown up more like brothers and sisters than friends.

The boys, Julio Cesar Linares, 12, and Carlos Medina, attended the same school and played on the same soccer team, the Pumas; their fathers helped coach the team.

Yesenia and Patricia passed their days together, coloring, playing with their Barbie dolls and playing house.

“Patricia’s the mom and I’m the baby,” Yesenia explained, her voice suddenly animated. Patricia pretends to take care of her “baby,” she cooks pretend breakfast and pretend dinner, then puts Yesenia to bed.

“Then it’s night and I say, ‘Mama, Mama,’ and I cry a little bit, but not for real,” Yesenia said. “That’s how we do.”

And the four children were always together, either at the Linareses’ apartment, or the Medinas’.

“They always want to be [together],” Juan Linares said.

The Medina children called Juan Linares “Tio,” uncle, or “Papi.”

On the day of the accident the children had played together, the way they always did.

Ernesto Medina picked his children up from the Linareses’ apartment to ride with him when he picked his wife up from work. Julio wanted to ride too, but his mother wouldn’t let him.

The Linareses, Juan especially, didn’t like the children to be on the streets too late.

“He cried because he wanted to go over there with Ernesto,” Linares said. “My wife said ‘no’ because she remembered what I said.”

The Medinas’ car was struck at Hayvenhurst Avenue and Parthenia Street about 12:20 a.m. The driver had been fleeing police in a stolen sports-utility truck moments before the accident occurred.

Daniel John O’Hare, 27, a transient from Granada Hills, is being held on three counts of murder in the death of the couple and their son.

In addition, O’Hare has been charged with 11 other counts, including evading arrest, driving under the influence, possession of cocaine, receiving stolen property and driving in a stolen car, said Los Angeles Police Detective Richard Talkington.

At the time of the accident O’Hare was under the influence of amphetamines and cocaine, police said.

He is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail without bail.

In June, O’Hare was involved in a traffic accident that left another man seriously injured. O’Hare was not arrested at the time but police asked the city attorney to charge him with driving under a suspended license.

That license was still suspended on Aug. 11.

“I can’t understand,” Juan Linares said. “I don’t understand this justice.”

It has been hard for the children to understand as well.

When Juan Linares bought a toy car for his son earlier this week, a diversion from all the pain, Julio wouldn’t play with it.

“He said I’m going to save it,” Juan Linares said. “He said I’m going to give it to Carlito. He was always thinking of Carlito.”

Now, that her parents and her brother are gone, it is important that Yesenia know that she still has family and love in her life.

“She’s afraid of being left alone,” said Rojas said.

The Linareses are not wealthy, but they have enough to share, they said, and with Rojas right next door, Yesenia will be well cared for. Juan Linares works as a cook at a seafood restaurant. Esther Linares cleans houses. Since the accident she has taken off to help Rojas.

“It may not be easy, but it won’t be hard,” Esther Linares said. “In my country we live like that. Sometimes two families together. That is not a problem.”

Yesenia is listed in fair condition at Childrens Hospital with two broken legs, among other injuries. She may be released within a week, said Tim Bradley, hospital spokesman.

“She knows we love her,” Juan Linares said of Yesenia. “We love her like a daughter. It’s too late for Carlos, but we can still do something for her.”

For now, Yesenia, just wants to go home.

“I’m going to open my new Barbie and I’m going to play with Patty and all my friends,” Yesenia said. “They’re waiting for me.”