Highway 12 victims at a glance

Updated: Monday, October 29, 2007 11:13 AM PDT

Highway 12 victims at a glance

Here's a look at a few of the people who have died in traffic accidents on Highway 12:

1. George F. Miller

The 54-year-old Santa Rosa man died from injuries after the big rig he was driving flipped over Oct. 1. The accident took place near Denverton Road, east of Fairfield. No other vehicles were involved.

2. Kent Boone

It was March 31 -- a Saturday -- on the hilly section of Highway 12 west of Rio Vista.

Kent Boone, a pipe fitter, was on his way to work. He was pulling overtime to provide for his five children. Before he got to the job site, his truck was hit head-on and he died instantly.

"He was very devoted," his wife Regina Sorisio said. "Everything he did, he did it for his family."

Boone's death inflamed passions about the deadly highway's safety and added fuel to the debate on illegal immigration.

The SUV that plowed into Boone, 33, was driven by Isidro Pena, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico who was drunk at 6 a.m. and had two bags of methamphetamine in his car.

Boone's family members said his death was made all the more tragic by the fact that Pena should never have been on the road.

"He was a wonderful young man and at 33 he didn't deserve to die by a drunk, hopped-up-on-drugs, illegal Mexican alien," said Bonnie Mayor, Boone's aunt.

Boone lived in the hills above Antioch and worked in the Bay Area as a pipe fitter and air conditioning system installer. He taught himself woodworking and he loved to make furniture for Sorisio in his shop in the garage.

After work, he took time to teach the kids how to ride BMX bikes or have tea parties with his twin girls.

"He was a really good dad," Sorisio said. "He always made time for the kids."

3. Jennifer Candari



Jennifer Candari, a 24-year-old Vallejo resident, was killed in a head-on collision near Rio Vista on March 5. Her Hyundai Sonata was struck by a Ford Mustang driven by Jason Boyer, who was hospitalized. CHP said he was driving on the wrong side of the road.

Candari, a Filipino American, had long brown hair and an attractive smile. She continues to receive online greetings on her MySpace page, from friends wishing she was still here.

One message reads: "Hi Jenny from the block. I miss you girl. I hope you had a good bday, just wanted to say I love you and that I think about you all the time, and you should know you will never be forgotten."

4. David Threlfall

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5. David C. Moses

The 46-year-old Sacramento man was killed Sept. 25 when he attempted to pass several cars about a mile east of the Rio Vista bridge. He could not re-enter his lane in time, sideswiped a truck, spun out of control and was hit by an oncoming pickup.

6. Karina Padilla



Ten-year-old Karina loved angels, butterflies, Disney princesses and her family. She was killed in a two-car wreck May 27 near Potato Slough.

The bubbly fourth-grader was the baby of Sylvia and Jesus Padilla of Fairfield. Her parents, along with her 13-year-old sister, Julia, and 18-year-old brother, Jesus, Jr., were all in the car when it was struck by an oncoming vehicle.

All were taken to area hospitals with injuries, from which they are now recovering.

Blunt force trauma claimed Karina's life 40 minutes after the accident.

The loss has been especially difficult for Karina's siblings, the girl's mother said.

"For my son and daughter it's been hard," Sylvia Padilla said in Spanish. "I taught them to be very united. They all took care of each other equally."

Sylvia Padilla is not angry toward the driver that swerved across the highway's double yellow lines, taking her daughter's life.

Between shuttling her family to and from follow-up medical appointments and working a full-time job, perhaps she doesn't have time to be angry.

"She is trying to move forward," said Jackie Trujillo, Sylvia's co-worker at a retirement home in Fairfield. "I have seen some good days and some bad days."

Though she was the youngest in the family, Karina loved to organize birthday parties for her mom and siblings. She even chose specific balloon colors for each family member, her mother said.

No day, especially family get-togethers, will be the same without her.

Today, her mother's birthday, marks five months since Karina was killed.

7. Floriano Pimentel

At 10 p.m. on March 17, Floriano Pimentel was driving his Toyota Tercel with his headlights off on Highway 12 near Tower Park.

A Hyundai Elantra swerved across the center line and smashed into Pimentel's car killing him and a passenger, Fortino Santos.

Pimentel, 22, was a Mexican migrant worker who picked grapes in Healdsburg, according to his boss, Dave Collin, the manager of Stuhlmuller Vineyards.

Pimentel, who came from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, had worked at the vineyard for 10 years. He left behind two daughters, Collin said.

"He was a good worker," he said. "Very reliable."

8. Fortino Santos

Fortino Santos, 35, was a passenger in Floriano Pimentel's car, and was killed in the March 17 head-on crash. He was a Mexican migrant worker and picked grapes in Healdsburg.

9. Javier Santos Romero Jr.

Javier Santos Romero Jr., 18, was killed in a March 7 crash on Highway 12 and DeVries Road. He was from Stockton and worked at In-N-Out Burger in Lodi.

10. Ranjiv Singh Rai



Ranjiv Rai loved music. He played drums in the jazz band at Lodi High School, and he spent much of his free time composing songs on his computer.

Around 5 a.m. on July 14, the Lodi resident was killed when he ran a stop sign at DeVries Road and Highway 12 and his car was struck by a big rig, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Rai, 34, had completed a degree in electronics from Heald College, and he was to receive a Bachelors of Science in data communication systems from ITT Technical Institute in December, 2007.

"He was very excited to graduate in December," said his mother Manjeet Rai, who lives not far from the crash site on Kingdon Road.

A toxicology report showed Rai's blood-alcohol content level was 0.37 percent. The legal limit to drive in California is 0.08 percent.

Rai was a dedicated father to his seven-year-old son, Sahil, his mother said, and he was advancing in his education to provide for his family.

"He was ambitious," Manjeet Rai said. "He wanted to be something. He was very generous. He didn't want to hurt anyone."

Caltrans placed a flashing red light above the stop sign at DeVries and Highway 12, a spot that's seen several wrecks in recent years.

Long-range plans call for adding a full stop light at the intersection. A stop light is planned at nearby Davis Road and Highway 12 this fall.

11. Pierre Ackermann



Pierre Ackermann crossed an ocean to live with his wife, Faith Hinkley.

It was Highway 12, however, that separated the two.

Ackermann, a 27-year-old South Africa native, was killed Dec. 22, 2006, when the car he and Hinkley were in was struck by a drunk driver: Lodi resident Dale Eisner.

The wreck happened near DeVries Road, just west of Lodi.

Because Eisner had been convicted of drunken driving six months earlier, he will face second degree murder charges in an upcoming trial.

Hinkley, a middle school English teacher in Stockton, is only now beginning to conquer the physical and emotional trauma of the crash.

During the day, she counts the number of times she thinks about her late husband, who was killed two days after the couple's first wedding anniversary, and on Hinkley's 34th birthday.

If she's able to limit the number to two or three times in one morning, she feels she's accomplished quite a bit.

She described Ackermann as a gentle, kind and imaginative soul -- someone who went out of his way to interact with others, though he naturally shy.

The two had lived together briefly in South Africa before moving to Stockton when Hinkley's mother became ill.

"He was everything," Hinkley said. "He was so full of joy and love and peace. Our time together was beautiful, just beautiful."

News-Sentinel staff member Mirna Ruiz and staff writers Chris Nichols and Matt Brown contributed to this story.