Woman, 67, Dies; 6th Victim of Head-On Crash Saturday

SANTA ANA — A 67-year-old Walnut woman died Monday from injuries she suffered in a weekend traffic collision that claimed five other lives, including four members of the woman’s family, police said.

Maria Sanchez, 67, was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m. by physicians at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, two days after the accident on rural Santiago Canyon Road.

Sanchez and other family members were returning to Walnut after attending a memorial Mass at St. Michael’s Abbey in El Toro when the accident occurred Saturday on a winding stretch of the canyon road near Irvine Lake, friends of the family said.

Pronounced dead at the scene were Sanchez’s husband, Vicente Sanchez, 69; her son-in-law, Joe Cruz Norman Mendoza, 37; and her 10-year-old granddaughter, Charlene, officials said.

Sanchez’s pregnant daughter, Mary Mendoza, 33, died a few hours after the 2 p.m. accident at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, authorities said. Two other family members who were traveling in the same four-wheel drive truck suffered moderate injuries.

Joe Mendoza, 16, the grandson of Maria Sanchez, and Eric Mendoza, 17, a relative, were released on Monday by doctors at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Jan Walker said.

Also killed was Nahum Rincon, 40, of Ripon, the driver of the second vehicle.

California Highway Patrol officials said that Rincon attempted to make a left-hand turn out of a driveway at Irvine Lake onto Santiago Canyon Road when he was struck head-on by the Mendoza truck.

Authorities were forced to close Santiago Canyon Road for several hours. The road connects the city of Orange with Trabuco Canyon and Mission Viejo to the south.

CHP Officer Angel Johnson said tests were taken on Rincon, who crossed the center divider and caused the accident, to determine if it was alcohol-related.

She stressed, however, that investigators did not believe that alcohol was a factor.

“It’s standard procedure in any fatality. We’re trying to put to rest any questions.”