Last Updated on October 25, 2018 by CCAR Staff
Four young men from Riverside who died when a vehicle crossed lanes on Van Buren Boulevard in Jurupa Valley and struck their car were friends heading home from an airport trip, the grief-stricken mother of one said Thursday.
Alicia Haro, 48, the mother of Daniel Smith, 20, spoke by phone briefly, saying she had just returned from the Riverside County Coroner’s office to pick up her son’s personal effects. She had a visit to a mortuary scheduled for later in the afternoon.
The others who died were identified as Marco Aguilar, 23, Clinton Jellsey, 25, and Nicholas Cahill, 20.
“They were all friends,” Haro said.
Friends and family showed up on the northwest corner of 56th Street and Van Buren Boulevard at 6 p.m. on Thursday, where the crash happened.
Parents hugged and introduced themselves to friends and acquaintances of the young men as they arrived. Haro embraced Cahill’s mother, Linda, as she and Cahill’s father, Sean, approached the memorial.
The memorial was adorned with candles and flowers early in the night. As more and more friends arrived, the number of candles swelled to over 75, along with scattered bottles of Modelo and Corona and containers of coconut juice.
A man who appeared to be in his 20s hammered a wooden stake into the ground at the memorial. On the stake was a picture of Cahill and Smith. The man delivered a final strike to the stake and wiped tears from his eyes with his gray jacket.
By the time the sun set, more than 50 friends and family members were standing on the street corner in front of a memorial, their faces illuminated by candlelight.
“Nick Cahill was (Daniel’s) best friend,” Haro said. “They were coming back from the airport.”
“Danny” and “Nick” were best friends for the majority of their lives, according to Sean Cahill. They met in elementary school and were inseparable to the point that Danny had been living with the Cahills for the previous few months.
“Nick never went anywhere without Danny,” Sean Cahill said.
Sean Cahill said the two, along with Aguilar, went to pick up Clint from the Ontario International Airport because Clint’s father was recovering from surgery and was unable to.
Linda Cahill said a man who said he was the first to the scene of the crash approached her and said he checked the vitals of the four young men immediately after the crash and assured her that they felt no pain.
“That gave me some sense of comfort,” she said.
Haro, who said Daniel’s father died two years ago, was at Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Riverside when sheriff’s investigators came to her home Wednesday.
They left a card asking for her to call, and she found out about Smith’s death when she contacted them, she said.
Before leaving for Mass, Sean Cahill contacted her and he asked if Haro had heard from either young man – they hadn’t come home.
“He was fun-loving,” Haro said of her son, the youngest of three brothers. ” He was a hard worker – he had a lot of friends. He had a girlfriend who is just devastated right now, she was his world.”
The driver of the vehicle that crashed into the car remained hospitalized Thursday. The crash remained under investigation, with authorities saying that driver, who did not have any passengers, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the time.
He was driving north on Van Buren when he lost control while trying to turn left onto 56th Street. The car instead entered the southbound lanes, where it collided with the car containing Smith, Cahill, Aguilar and Jellsey, investigators said.
Two other vehicles were damaged while trying to avoid the collision.
“I can’t bring myself to believe that you’re actually gone cuz I’m still here texting you and calling your phone just wishing you’ll pick up or at least text me back. But wherever you’re at I know you can hear me,” Tony Alvarez, who identified himself as Aguilar’s cousin, wrote on Aguilar’s Facebook page.
David Herrera, 22, of Riverside, an assistant store manager at a Taco Bell in Riverside, worked with Aguilar. He said in an email they worked as closers at the restaurant.
“Marco was a great person from the time I met him up until his passing,” Herrera wrote. “He was a hard worker and learned very quickly considering it was his first job. He gave off a really positive vibe and I was blessed to have worked with him the time I did.
“He was an aspiring artist who was hoping to show off some of his work, based of what he told me. His loss was felt throughout the store and I can only pray for his family to get through this horrible time,” he wrote.
