Your support helps us to tell the story
A mother has been arrested after her three-year-old daughter died in a hot car, years after she advocated for tougher DUI laws following the deaths of her two sons.
Sandra Hernandez-Cazares, 42, of Anaheim, was charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and child abuse causing great bodily injury, the Orange County District Attorney confirmed.
Last Friday, concerned family members searched for Hernandez-Cazares when staff at her five-year-old son’s elementary school reported that no one had arrived to pick him up.
Hernandez-Cazares was found in her car, outside her apartment, with her three-year-old daughter, Ily Ruiz, also inside. Both were unconscious and were rescued from the vehicle. Despite resuscitation efforts, the little girl was pronounced dead at the scene, KTLA reported.
The child had been dead for hours before she was discovered, according to medical officials.
Anaheim police officers discovered empty alcohol bottles in the car and the mother’s blood alcohol content was .30 when she arrived at the hospital. BAC at this level has the effect of alcohol poisoning and loss of consciousness.
Following her arrest, it was revealed that Hernandez-Cazares had advocated for stricter DUI laws after losing her five-year-old and nine-year-old sons a decade prior to a drunk driver.
The boys had been killed by a drunk driver who ran over them while they slept in a tent at a South Dakota campground on a family vacation in 2012. Both Hernandez-Cazares and her husband Juan Ruiz lobbied the state legislature for stronger penalties for those caught driving under the influence.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said: “The unimaginable pain of having your five-year-old and nine-year-old sons killed by a drunk driver is something from which you can never recover.
“Anyone who has suffered such a devastating tragedy knows the ripple effects of grief may be able to be hidden, but the heartbreak of losing your children will never go away.
“A mother who was robbed of the chance to see two of her sons grow up because of the selfish decision of a stranger will have to live with the fact she will never get to see her little girl grow up because of the choices she made.”
In a memorial post on GoFundMe, Ily’s father’s cousin paid tribute to the little girl. “Ily was such a beautiful and innocent soul with a very loving and bubbly personality. It’s still hard to wrap our minds around the thought that Ily is no longer with us.
“She has been tragically taken from our family in such an unfathomable way, and all we want to do is ease the burden and pain her father Juan and the family are going through at this time.”
Hernandez-Cazares faces up to 12 years in jail if convicted. She is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail, authorities confirmed.
