76-year-old driver 'at fault' in crash that killed 2 people in Atwater, police say
Atwater police on Monday said the driver responsible for killing two people over the weekend in a deadly crash was not intoxicated and "cooperated completely" with investigators.
Police investigators said Roselyn Ann Heldt, 76, was "at fault" in the crash Saturday that claimed the lives of 18-year-old Jessica Rodriguez of Merced and 20-year-old Luis Casares of Atwater.
Chief Samuel Joseph said Heldt was driving a BMW sedan. She made a left turn from the westbound traffic lane of East Juniper Avenue toward Valley Street and struck the side of an Acura Integra, driven by Casares. Joseph said investigators determined Heldt "failed to yield to oncoming traffic," which caused the crash.
The impact caused the Acura to slide into the sound wall at the southeast corner of Valley Street and Juniper Avenue. Both victims died at the scene, police said.
Neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the crash, police said.
Heldt was not arrested. A report will be sent to the Merced County District Attorney's Office for review, which is standard procedure in fatal crashes, Joseph said.
It will be up to county prosecutors to determine whether any criminal charges will be filed in connection with the deadly wreck.
Joseph said Heldt cooperated with investigators.
“They were both always a ray of light to everyone,” said their former English teacher, Jenna Webb-Garcia, in a phone interview with the Sun-Star. “They were friendly, kind and sweet people. Overall great kids to have in class.”
The loss of former Buhach High School students has “absolutely” impacted students at the high school, Webb-Garcia said, and extra staff support has been provided for students so they can sit and talk to counselors or teachers.
Casares and Rodriguez were both well known throughout Buhach, Webb-Garcia said, and “even teachers are deeply impacted."
Buhach High School cheerleaders planned a Chipotle fundraiser in September to help with competition costs but decided to give “100 percent” of the proceeds to support both families to help with any type of costs they need, said Webb-Garcia, who is also the school's cheer adviser.
She described Casares as a “goofball” and said he was always making people laugh and “loved” to skateboard.
“Jessica was more quiet but had a really sassy attitude,” Webb-Garcia said. “She was really sweet and into makeup and fashion. She was a beautiful girl inside and out.”
The fundraiser will be held at Chipotle on R Street in Merced on Friday from 4 p.m. to 8. People can show the cashier a flyer, a flyer on their mobile phone or tell they want to donate to the cause.
This story has been corrected to correct a name that was transposed in the third to last paragraph.
This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "76-year-old driver 'at fault' in crash that killed 2 people in Atwater, police say."