4 Family Members Killed in Freeway Crash

A family was in mourning Friday after four relatives were killed in an accident on the northbound San Diego Freeway late Thursday night.

The four died when their car slammed into a disabled sport utility vehicle parked on the freeway’s right shoulder south of the Ventura Boulevard exit, the California Highway Patrol said. Killed were the driver, Carlos Eduardo Lainez, 26, and Eliza Marlene Mineros, 29, both of Van Nuys, and the driver’s sister-in-law and nephew, Jeymni Elizabeth Medina, 22, and her 14-month-old son, Luis Alejandro Lainez Jr., who were visiting from Honduras.

Lainez was driving north in a Pontiac Grand Am when, for reasons unknown, the car crashed into a Chevrolet Tahoe parked on the freeway shoulder with its hazard flashers on, CHP Officer Bill Preciado said. The Pontiac flipped over, landing on its roof. Paramedics pronounced all four of the car’s occupants dead at the scene.

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Two people in the Chevrolet, driver Rafi Marchant, 19, of Culver City, and passenger Alex Kuechenberg, 17, of Woodland Hills, suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Ironically, CHP officers had stopped minutes before the accident to help the occupants of the Chevrolet, Preciado said, but the officers left to respond to an another emergency call. Before leaving, the officers told Marchant and Kuechenberg to stay inside their vehicle and fasten their seat belts, he said.

The three adults in the Pontiac were also wearing seat belts and the toddler was fastened in a child safety seat, Preciado said.

Three northbound lanes, closed as officers investigated the accident, were reopened about 8 a.m. Friday, the CHP said.

The Lainezes were a close family of 11 siblings, many of whom had gathered for lunch last weekend in San Diego, Erwin Lainez, Carlos’ brother, said Friday.

Carlos Lainez and Eliza Mineros, a distant cousin, had been dating for about two months, said Erwin Lainez, 30.

“As far as I know he was the happiest man on Earth,” he said. “He fell in love with her right away. . . . He wanted to marry Eliza and have babies.”

Erwin said he and his younger brother, a computer programmer, were “very tight.”

“I used to worry about him and he used to worry about me,” Erwin said. “I treated him like a son.”

He said he did not know where the four had been earlier Thursday evening, only that Carlos had said he had a surprise outing for them.

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Medina, who is married to Erwin and Carlos’ brother Luis, and her son had been staying with relatives in Van Nuys since July. Erwin said he had informed her family in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, about the accident.

Erwin said Carlos was a polite, giving man who often brought gifts to Erwin’s 4-year-old daughter.

“I’m going to miss him,” he said. “I’m going to miss them all.”

The family has begun to make arrangements for a funeral on Wednesday and will send the bodies to Honduras, their homeland, for burial.

A fund has been established for the family of the deceased. Donations may be sent to the Lainez Foundation, in care of Union Bank of California, 14360 Roscoe Blvd., Panorama City 91402.