Sonoma Valley girl, 7, dies two days after crash that killed her mother
NICK RAHAIM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 17, 2017, 3:06PM
| Updated 3 hours ago.
Three days after the death of her mother, a Sonoma Valley second-grader has succumbed to the injuries she suffered on her way to school Tuesday morning when a suspected drunken driver slammed his pickup head-on into their car.
Family members said they plan to remove Kaliyah Adkins, 7, from life support Saturday at Children’s Hospital Oakland, where she has been in care since Tuesday.
Her mother, Estefania Soto, 27, died at the site of the crash on Highway 12 in Agua Caliente.
The girl lived with her mother in Boyes Hot Springs, and was a student at Sassarini Elementary School. School Principal Andrew Ryan sent a letter to parents Friday morning informing them that Adkins had died.
The driver of the pickup, Jose Manuel Lopez-Perez, 25, of Santa Rosa, was charged with two counts of murder Friday when he was arraigned by Sonoma County prosecutors in his bed at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Soto was driving Adkins to the school at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday on Highway 12 in Agua Caliente when a Ford pickup truck driven by Jose Manuel Lopez-Perez, 25, of Santa Rosa, crossed the double-yellow line and collided with her Nissan Sentra, according to the CHP.
Bystanders quickly stopped, pulled an unconscious Adkins from her pink car seat and began performing CPR until first responders took over.
Others pulled Lopez-Perez from his burning truck. Both Adkins and Lopez-Perez were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries but the 7-year-old was quickly flown to Children’s Hospital Oakland.
She remained there as recently as Wednesday, when a family friend said she was unconscious with severe swelling in her brain.
Lopez-Perez was arrested on suspicion of DUI and was set to be arraigned in his hospital bed Friday afternoon and he could be charged with the deaths of Adkins and Soto, said Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Brian Staebell.
Sassarini Elementary had therapy dogs and support personnel from Social Advocates for Youth at the school Friday to help staff and students “work through their grief,” Ryan said by email.
The mother and daughter have roots in Sonoma Valley, Ryan said earlier this week. Soto was Ryan’s student when he was a physical education teacher at Altamira Middle School, he said.
Soto was an employee at Crush Beauty Bar in Sonoma where Soto worked as a hairstylist.
Friends and relatives of the family could not immediately be reached Friday.
==================Estefania Soto was going about her day in the most typical of ways on Tuesday morning. She bundled her young daughter, Kaliyah, 7, into their Nissan Sentra and was headed south on Highway 12 from their Boyes Hot Springs home to Sassarini Elementary School.
At 7:45 a.m., a suspected drunken pickup driver collided head-on with her sedan near London Way in Agua Caliente, killing Soto instantly. Her daughter remains in critical condition at Children’s Hospital Oakland, according to a relative.
The Ford pickup driver, Jose Manuel Lopez-Perez, 25, of Santa Rosa, was seen by witnesses crossing over solid double yellow lines into the eastbound lane to pass other vehicles prior to hitting the Sentra, collapsing the smaller vehicle’s front end, according to the CHP.
Kaliyah Ava Rose Adkins was riding in a pink booster seat in the back of the car, She wasn’t breathing when she was pulled from the sedan by bystanders, said Sonoma Valley Fire Chief Steve Akre. The group laid her on the ground and started CPR, possibly saving her life, he said.
“What they did was truly heroic. It made a huge impact on the outcome and gave (the 7-year-old) a chance to live,” Akre said.
Sonoma Valley firefighters were on duty at the nearby Agua Caliente station and arrived to find the pickup truck engulfed in flames and the driver outside the vehicle. The highway was littered with debris and rescuers.
Kaliyah was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and later flown to Children’s Hospital Oakland.
Lopez-Perez was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He remained there Wednesday afternoon. Lopez-Perez was previously arrested in December 2016, for driving without a license, unsafe passing and driving without insurance. According to court dockets, was convicted only of being unlicensed, paid a $220 fine and was released.
Soto was born and raised in Sonoma and attended Sonoma Valley High School and Creekside High School. She had been working as a stylist at both Crush Beauty Bar and Peace N Beauty Salon.
“She loved her work and her co-workers,” said a relative who asked not to be identified.
Dozens of clients and co-workers have posted memories of Soto and notes of sadness and prayers for Kaliyah on the Crush Facebook page.
Sassarini provided grief counseling to its school families this week, and Kaliyah’s relative said she was touched that the little girl’s second grade teacher came to visit her in the hospital in Oakland.
“Our hearts and thoughts remain with Kaliyah and her family during this time,” said Sassarini principal Andrew Ryan said in an email. “We want Kaliyah to know that she has a great deal of people who care and love her here on campus and in our community.”
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at Duggan’s Funeral Home at 525 W. Napa St.