Family, friends mourn on Sunday the loss of 5 killed in crash

OGDEN — When Natalie Reyes had to say goodbye to her husband after he was shot and killed by a gunman outside their Ogden home, it nearly broke her heart. Exactly 22 years later, she was forced to say goodbye to her son.

Her 22-year-old son, Todd Salazar, was killed in a car accident with four friends while heading back from a camping trip in Ogden Valley early Saturday morning.

Salazar, Fealina Espinoza, 16; Vanessa Martinez-Reyez, 19; and Karlee Jack, 18, were heading west on state Route 39 near 10500 East in an older model Honda Accord, when driver 19-year-old Timothy Arguello tried to pass another car in a no-passing zone around 7:30 a.m. The vehicle collided head on with a truck that carried a young couple and their baby, said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Philip Howell.

The truck ended up on top of the Accord, killing all five people in it, Howell said. No one in the truck sustained significant injuries.

But for those killed, it means heartache for hundreds of people who knew and loved them. Nearly 200 turned out Sunday night at a vigil in Ogden.

Natalie Reyes said her son had been a football player at Ogden High before graduating and was planning to join the Army — a dream that will no longer come to be.

One of Salazar's younger brothers was in the car behind him when the accident occurred.

"The other two cars were up there ahead, and when they got around the corner, he saw the crash. He called me, just screaming over the phone," Reyes said. "I started screaming, just running all around. I called T.J. (Timothy)'s mom, jumped into her car and drove straight up to the canyon. That's where I met my son. He was in hysterics. He lost his best friend."

T.J.'s mother, Serena Arguello, said she's numb right now, remembering her son, who as a boy would take apart remote-controlled cars, computers — you name it and he could dismember it and put it back together again.

"He worked so hard to finish school," Arguello said. "He wanted to go do training with DATC. He wanted build houses."

That dream, too, is long gone now.

Vanessa's father, Enosencio Reyez, said how much his daughter loved being with her friends, her boyfriend Todd, and how much she cherished her 3-month-old son. Dominique Jay. He said Vanessa, who was great at sports, played softball and in junior high, her basketball team won at a state championship.

"I just loved her so much," Reyez said.

Nearly 200 friends and family joined together to mourn the loss of their loved ones at 8:30 p.m. Sunday outside Fealina Espinoza's mother's home in Ogden. Candles shone bright in the darkening night, and tears flowed freely as they surrounded two tables full of photos of victims of the crash.

Chris Espinoza, Fealina's dad, said many people came just to offer condolences and the kind thoughts were a blessing in itself.

"I don't think I can ask for anything more," he said. "A lot of people are willing to offer their help."

e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com