Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Trust Funds to Pay for Crash Victims’ Burial, Aid Orphans

LANCASTER —  A pair of trust funds have been established to cover the burial costs of five people who died in a car accident here and assist two children orphaned in the crash.

Four members of the Munoz family were killed in the two-car collision: the parents and two of their four children. A cousin, Nancy Solorzano, 9, was also killed.

The Munoz family are residents of the rural community of Hi Vista, east of Lancaster. The seven were driving into Lancaster on Aug. 4 for a wedding rehearsal when their car ran a stop sign at the intersection at 120th Street East and Avenue E and was broadsided. Five of the seven people in the Munoz car were killed: father Jose, 42; mother Clelia, 39; daughters Patricia, 16, and Evelyn, 4.

Marcie Munoz, 14, and her brother Kevin, 6, survived the accident, although both remain hospitalized in stable condition. The driver of the second car suffered a broken ankle.

A pastor from the Munoz family’s church and a principal from the school where Kevin attended kindergarten established a trust fund locally while members of the extended family have arranged for a fund through a San Fernando Valley bank.

Eastside Elementary School Principal James King said donations to help cover burial costs for the four Munoz family members can be sent to the Munoz Memorial Trust Fund in care of Iglesia Pentecostal Monte Sinai, 22054 E. Ave. G, Lancaster, Calif. 93535.

Marcie and Kevin Munoz have been told that their parents and sisters died in the accident, King said.

The second trust fund was created by members of the extended family and is intended to defray burial costs for all five victims, with extra money to go to the surviving Munoz children.

Donations to that fund should be sent to the Munoz Family Relief Fund in care of Transworld Bank, 11011 Balboa Blvd., Granada Hills, Calif. 91344.