More than 150 mourners gathered Saturday at the Lakewood Funeral Home in Howell, New Jersey, to remember Maria Pleitez, 42, and her 11-year-old daughter, Dayanara Cortes, who tragically lost their lives in a head-on collision with an alleged drunk driver on July 26.
The somber wake was filled with grief-stricken family and friends, many of whom wore shirts bearing images of Maria and Dayanara’s smiling faces as they paid their respects.
The mood was one of deep sorrow, as relatives and friends sobbed openly, struggling to come to terms with the devastating loss. One mourner, overcome with emotion, leaned over Maria’s open casket and repeatedly cried out, “¡Qué fuerte!” (“How terrible”) and “Porque?” (“Why?”), asking the question that many of those gathered were also struggling to answer.
Among those grieving was Dayanara’s father and her 11-year-old friend, who was injured in the crash and is now recovering.
At around 11:20 p.m. on July 26, Maria was driving Dayanara and her friend to a Wawa for milkshakes when Raul Luna-Perez, 43, allegedly drove his Dodge Durango into their Nissan Sentra in a head-on crash in Lakewood. Maria was killed instantly, and Dayanara, who was seated in the front passenger seat, died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Luna-Perez, who has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and assault by auto, was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. Authorities are awaiting the results of an alcohol blood test, and additional charges may be filed once the test results are received.
Luna-Perez, a Mexican immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, had been arrested twice earlier in the spring for DUI in Red Bank, NJ. This prior history of drunk driving was particularly painful for the family, as Maria del Carmen Pleitez, Maria’s niece, spoke at the wake about her aunt’s life and the tragedy of the incident.
“She was a hardworking, cat-loving, doting US citizen who immigrated from El Salvador 24 years ago,” Maria del Carmen said. “She was always happy. She would bring happiness wherever she went. She was never angry or sad. And it’s so painful because the man who did this had two DUIs already.”
Maria worked in the painting department of Superior Promotional Bags in Toms River, NJ, and was known for being the pillar of her family. “She was the head of the family,” Maria del Carmen said. “She had two daughters that she was raising on her own. She had her own place, her own apartment. She never asked for help from anyone. We loved her so much.”
The pain of the loss is also deeply felt by Maria’s 16-year-old daughter, who stayed at home that evening and is now struggling with the grief. “It’s so hard. We still feel like we can’t digest everything. Like, you wake up in the morning, and you think it’s not true,” Maria del Carmen shared.
The tragedy has shaken the tight-knit family, leaving them with many questions about the senselessness of the loss. The community continues to mourn the death of Maria and Dayanara, remembering them as vibrant, loving individuals whose lives were cut short far too soon.
