OC mother charged with daughter's death, lost two boys due to drunk driving

An Orange County woman arrested Friday in connection with the death of her 3-year-old daughter, who was found unconscious and locked in a sweltering car in Anaheim, had suffered the deaths of two other children years earlier at the hands of a drunk driver.

Sandra Hernandez-Cazares has been arrested and charged in the death of her daughter, Ily Ruiz. According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Ily Ruiz was found locked in the family car with Hernandez-Cazares in the area of ​​1300 Fashion Lane on Friday.

Twelve years earlier, Hernandez-Cazares and her husband Juan Ruiz lost two sons, five-year-old Alaries Ruiz and nine-year-old Cyris Ruiz. who were killed by a drunk driver who ran over their tent during a family vacation at a campground in South Dakota.

Ruiz's sons had traveled from El Paso to visit their father, who worked in the oil industry nearby.

After their deaths, Hernandez-Casarez and Ruiz called for harsher penalties for drunk driving, said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

“A mother who was robbed of the chance to see two of her sons grow up because of a stranger's selfish decision must live with the fact that she will never see her little girl grow up because of her choices,” Spitzer said in a statement.

Hernandez-Casarez was charged Monday with manslaughter and child abuse with serious bodily injury. If convicted on all counts, she faces 12 years in prison. Her bail is set at $150,000 and she is currently being held at a Santa Ana jail.

A representative for Hernandez-Casarez was not available.

Concerned family members first suspected something was wrong on Friday when staff at the elementary school the couple's five-year-old son attended said no one had come to pick up the child, prosecutors said.

A family member eventually called 911 after finding Hernandez-Casarez and Ily unconscious in a white Ford Expedition parked outside the family's Anaheim apartment, prosecutors said.

On that day, the temperature outside the vehicle was 40 degrees. The temperature inside the car on a hot day can 20 to 40 degrees higher than the outside temperature within minutes, according to the National Weather Service.

Officers attempted to resuscitate Ily before taking her and her mother to the hospital. At the hospital, Ily was pronounced dead.

Anaheim police said the girl apparently died from heat stroke. An official autopsy is pending.

Police also discovered several empty alcohol bottles in the SUV, authorities said.

A family member posted a GoFundMe for funeral expenses, which exceeded $10,000 as of Tuesday.

The post said Ruiz was in the process of moving from Texas to California to care for the family's five-year-old son.

After undergoing a medical examination, detectives questioned and arrested Hernandez-Casarez.

“The unimaginable pain of having your 5- and 9-year-old sons killed by a drunk driver is something you can never recover from,” Spitzer said. “Anyone who has experienced such a devastating tragedy knows that the effects of grief may be hidden, but the heartache of losing your children will never go away.”