ANTIOCH, Calif. — The message scrawled in marker on a bright-pink balloon – “Hi Sela, love you and miss you so much” – slowly faded from sight as it floated up into the clear sky above Holy Cross Cemetery.
It joined dozens of other candy-colored balloons carrying poignant messages memorializing 7-year-old Sela Mataele and her closest father figure, Ramiro Castro, who were killed in a horrific accident one year ago on April 12, 2021, at the hands of a repeat drunken driver.
While friends and family who gathered for the occasion all looked up, Sela’s mother, Corrina Rosalez, turned away. She stared hard at the ground, wiping her eyes so her two boys – who along with her were badly injured in the same accident – wouldn’t notice the tears.
