2 Women Killed in Sun Valley Crash Shared Special Kinship

Maria de Jesus Aranda and Ana Bell Gomez were best friends and co-workers and, for nearly a decade, even lived with their families in the same house in Pacoima.

On Tuesday, as the two women carpooled home, they died together when their vehicle was struck by a suspected car thief fleeing Los Angeles police in Sun Valley.

On Wednesday, a grief-stricken Teodoro Aranda, 40, said that since the accident he had been trying to avoid his children -- Alondra, 7, and Francisco 4 -- so he didn’t break down in front of them.

“I don’t want them to see me sad,” said Aranda, wiping tears from his face. “I’ve told my daughter that from now on, it’s us three together. Mom, she took a journey, very far away, and she’s looking at us from very far away.

“I try not to show any emotions. I try and make [my daughter] laugh,” Aranda said. “But inside, I’m dying.”

Maria Aranda, 32, originally from Mexico, and Gomez, 44, from El Salvador, had just left work at a Pacoima aircraft parts cleaning company and were driving through the intersection of Sheldon Street and Telfair Avenue when a white GMC Suburban barreled through a red light, became airborne and slammed into their small Honda, authorities said.

The driver, identified by police as Alfonso Ibarra, 21, of Pacoima, may face murder charges if he survives. He suffered severe head trauma and internal injuries, said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Art Miller.

Miller said the crash was the result of “total disregard by a suspect who would not submit to an arrest.”

The incident began when two undercover officers checking an area known for drug dealing discovered a vehicle that had been reported stolen, said LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergman. A man and a woman got into the vehicle, and police followed them to a strip mall at Allegheny Street and San Fernando Road, where the two got out and walked toward a liquor store.

The officers parked behind the car, “trying to block it as best they could,” Bergman said, adding that they approached the suspects, showing their badges and identifying themselves as police officers.

The woman ran, and the man bolted back to the SUV, jumped in and “tore out of the parking lot,” Bergman said.

Detectives scrambled back to their undercover car, called for backup and headed down Telfair after the stolen vehicle.

“By the time they got out of the lot around the next corner, the suspect was way down the street,” Bergman said. “I don’t know if they saw the crash, but as they came down Telfair, they came upon the crash.”

Police said the Suburban hit a Mercedes-Benz and the Honda. The Mercedes driver was unharmed. Aranda and Gomez died at the scene.

The two women had become friends through their husbands.

Although Jorge Gomez was from El Salvador and Teodoro Aranda from Mexico, they formed a bond that has lasted almost a quarter of a century. When Aranda married Maria in 1994, the newlyweds moved into a house that Gomez had worked years to buy.

“My wife and I struggled for many years to get our little house. But we made it, finally,” Gomez said. They bought the house despite making less than $200 a week, he said. His wife sold cosmetics on the side.

The Arandas stayed until last November, when they bought their own house -- next door.

In addition to her husband, Ana Bell Gomez is survived by sons Giovanny, 21, and Edwin, 16.

Gomez, who had worked at Peen-Rite Inc. since 1981, usually rode to work with Aranda, who had been at the company three years, said Mike Garcia, the shop foreman. The two worked three feet from each other, he said.

“We’re all in mourning,” Garcia said.

Lucia Aranda, Maria’s sister-in-law, said: “They took care of the home. They were very dedicated to their families. You hear about this and you feel such sympathy and sadness. But ... until it happens, you can’t understand it.”