Coroner identifies Hilmar mother and daughter killed in Merced County crash

The Merced County Sheriff Coroner’s Office has identified a Hilmar mother and daughter killed in a Merced County traffic collision on Saturday as 42-year-old Melanie Valdez and 9-year-old Khloie Valdez, according to Deputy Daryl Allen.

A GoFundMe account has been created for the family.

California Highway Patrol officers responded to the collision at 11:05 a.m. on Highway 165, south of Westside Boulevard near Hilmar.

According to the CHP, Valdez was driving north on Highway 165 in a 2006 Kia Rio at an unknown speed when she attempted to make a right turn.

Authorities said she went off the right shoulder, lost control of the vehicle and traveled into the path of a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado traveling south on Highway 165. The Chevrolet collided with the right rear of the Kia, the CHP said.

Neither of the Kia’s occupants were wearing seat belts at the time of the collision and both occupants were thrown from the vehicle, according to the CHP. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Chevrolet was a 32-year-old man from Modesto with a 30-year-old female passenger and three juvenile passengers ages 5, 10 and 11.

All occupants of the Chevrolet were wearing restraints at the time of the collision and were taken to a Modesto-area hospital with minor injures, according to the CHP.