4 killed, including 1-year-old, in head-on crash north of Modesto identified
DEL RIO — Four people, including a 1-year-old girl, died in a collision involving four vehicles north of Modesto, authorities said Tuesday evening.
The crash happened just after 4 p.m. on McHenry Avenue at Hogue Road in the small community of Del Rio, the California Highway Patrol's Modesto division said.
Two vehicles were involved in a head-on crash after the driver of one of them, for unknown reasons, crossed over into the opposite lanes.
The vehicle that crossed into the wrong lanes was a Mitsubishi sedan. The driver was a 19-year-old woman from Merced. There was a 22-year-old man from Merced in the passenger seat. Both were declared dead at the scene.
The other vehicle was a Toyota SUV. The driver was a 60-year-old woman from Linden. She had a 1-year-old baby in the vehicle with her. Both died at area hospitals.
Two other vehicles collided with the Mitsubishi and Toyota. The occupants of those vehicles were uninjured.
The crash was initially reported by the CHP as a hit-and-run before details on the head-on collision were released.
On Wednesday, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office identified the four people killed as: 60-year-old Turlock resident Patricia Lopez, 20-month-old Turlock resident Clara Howells, 19-year-old Merced resident Angeles Escoto, and 23-year-old Merced resident Francis Catano.
