Accident Wipes Mom's Memory of Dead Baby, Husband

A car slammed into the back of the family's vehicle in Florida: police
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2015 7:44 AM CDT
Accident Wipes Mom's Memory of Dead Baby, Husband
A happy family has been torn apart.   (GoFundMe)

Not only did Ivelisse Martinez lose her husband and baby in a car crash in Florida last week, she also lost all memory of them. Authorities say Jose Vargas Rosario, 35, and Martinez, 27, were stopped at a red light in Altamonte Springs on Oct. 16 when a Mercury Grand Marquis driven by a 75-year-old woman slammed into the rear of their Kia. The Mercury cut through the couple's trunk and sent their 1-year-old son Brayden, strapped into a car seat in the back, flying forward, reports the Orlando Sentinel. A witness said Rosario's head was forced "into the dashboard." Both father and son were killed and Martinez was left critically injured. But when a chaplain and police investigator broke the news to Martinez on Wednesday, she couldn't remember them or the crash, per NBC News.

"There are no words to express the devastation that our family is going through," Rosario's sister says. A GoFundMe page has been set up by the family. Meanwhile, police are still investigating what led to the "extraordinary, very powerful" impact. Witnesses tell WESH that the 75-year-old driver, Cynthia Guthrie, didn't brake as she neared the intersection. Police haven't said how fast she was traveling in the 45mph zone but suggested she was speeding, per WKMG Orlando. Guthrie, who had a clean driving record, told police she didn't know why she didn't stop at the light; authorities say she will only be charged if lab tests show she was using an illegal substance at the time, per WKMG. (Another tragic crash: A father of seven died bringing his pregnant wife to the hospital in April.)

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