OCEANSIDE (CNS) - Authorities have identified the woman who was killed early Friday when a wrong-way driver slammed head-on into her SUV on Interstate 5.
Alondra Guadalupe Esquivel, 37, of Santa Maria was driving about 2 a.m. on the southbound side of I-5 near Mission Avenue when she was struck by a northbound sedan, officials with the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Esquivel was found unresponsive in the roadway after the crash, according to the California Highway Patrol. She died at the scene from multiple blunt-force injuries.
The name of the suspected wrong-way driver has not been released pending notification of next of kin, but officials with the Medical Examiner's Office said he was a 31-year-old from Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, a tiny community of fewer than 1,000 residents in the northeastern corner of the state near Four Corners Monument. He also died at the scene from multiple blunt-force injuries.
The crash caused one of the vehicles to erupt in flames and closed the freeway as emergency crews responded and later cleared the crash, the CHP said. Three non-injury crashes were also reported in the area following the initial fatality collision.
If you would like to help the family a GoFundMe page has been set up in memory of Alondra.