Family, friends mourn two teenage girls who died in North Bay car crash

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. - Dozens of mourners gathered Monday evening, at the crash site where two teenage girls died over the weekend.

The accident in Rohnert Park was one of the worst many responders had ever seen, with the vehicle ripped into pieces, and both victims killed instantly.

"It was horrible, I've only seen one other this bad in my career," said Deputy Police Chief Aaron Johnson, "and like I tell my children, we're a phone call away from our life changing forever."

The solo-vehicle crash, Saturday night at 9:40 p.m., happened on Golf Course Drive at Roberts Lake Road, on a curve approaching Highway 101.

"You look at their pictures, and you ask how, why?" said  Victoria Recendez-Martinez, whose younger sister Lorena, 17, was driving the Mercedes coupe.

Lorena's siblings are now planning her burial.  

"We're her older sisters so it's not something we thought we'd ever have to do, she had her whole life ahead of her," Victoria said through tears.

Lorena's family arrived at the scene Monday evening to add flowers and candles to a growing memorial.

Portraits of Lorena and her friend, Amada Salinas-Aguilar, were displayed side by side.

Salinas-Aguilar, 16, was in the passenger seat.

Witnesses said the car was speeding above the 40 mph limit, when it jumped the curb, rolled and skidded out of control, hitting signs, two trees, and a light pole.

It slammed sideways, windshield first, into the second tree, and the seatbelts the teens wore made no difference.

"I guarantee when they left for the evening their parents didn't think that was the last time they'd see them alive," said Johnson.

"These girls were young and full of life, had the world in front of them and literally in a moment, that's all taken away."

Lorena's parents stood weeping silently at the roadside, embraced by other relatives.

Lorena grew up in Rohnert Park and was entering her senior year at Rancho Cotate High School.

Amada was from Los Angeles and was visiting an aunt in Rohnert Park for the summer.

Police are trying to piece together where the girls were going, or coming from, that night.

Their phones, which might contain clues, have been no help. 

"We've only been able to locate one cell phone so far, and it is so demolished we can't retrieve any information out of it," said Johnson.

The family says it doesn't have answers either.

"We're still trying to figure out everything, we don't know the details yet, but what happened can't be undone," said Lorena's older sister Carmen Mirsberger.

"She was a good sister, she had a big heart, and it doesn't feel like she's really gone yet," added Mirsberger, choking up.

At one point, more than 20 people stepped onto Golf Course Drive to release red balloons, shouting "we love you" to Lorena and Amada as the balloons drifted away.  

GoFundMe accounts have been established to assist with funeral expenses.  Find out more here and here.