Galt
family’s van shows no signs of mechanical failure
Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel staff writer
WOODLAND — Investigators say they have found nothing
mechanically wrong with the van that contained three members of a
Galt family whose bodies were found Thursday near
Clarksburg.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary,” Yolo
County Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Cecchettini said.
The California
Highway Patrol’s investigation on what caused the van driven by
Annie Hernandez, 34, to plunge into the Sacramento River will not be
completed for about a week, said CHP officer Loren Jacobs.
“I
think (the cause) is going to be extremely difficult to prove,”
Cecchettini said.
The bodies of Hernandez and her two
daughters, Korra Jean Meyers, 5, and Jesika Rose Hernandez, 2, were
found Thursday on the Yolo County side of the river. Their
identities were confirmed Friday afternoon by the county coroner’s
office.
They had been missing since the night of Nov. 2. They
were last seen at McDonald’s off Interstate 5 at the Pocket Road
exit.
Yolo County authorities assume the van plunged into the
Sacramento River shortly after the family left McDonald’s,
Cecchettini said. They know it’s been there since at least February,
when a large tree branch went downstream in the river and became
snagged on what authorities now believe was the van, he
said.
It will probably be impossible to determine whether
Hernandez or her children were wearing seat belts or if any parts of
the van were broken, Cecchettini said. Nothing appeared to be
broken, he said.
It will also be difficult to determine
exactly what happened when the van went into the river and if there
were any skid marks at the scene, Cecchettini said, since it’s
probably been six months since it went into the
river.
Services for the Hernandez family will be held in Galt
and Dixon, where Annie Hernandez grew up.
The first service
will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at the Chabolla Community Center, 630
Chabolla Ave., Galt, with Pastor Manuel Hernandez of New Life
Ministries officiating. Manuel Hernandez is the brother of Annie
Hernandez’s husband, Armando.
Visitation will be held from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Galt Funeral Home.
A second service
will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Community Church of Dixon, with
Pastor Wes Nordstrom officiating. Committal will follow at Dixon
Cemetery.
The family requests contributions to the Shriners’
Hospital for Crippled Children’s Northern California unit, P.O. Box
21-4477, Sacramento CA 95821-0477, or the Cyndi Search Foundation,
2251 Third St., P.O. Box 315, Clements CA 95227.
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