Thieves worsened the ordeal for the family of two girls killed in a Thanksgiving hit-and-run crash in Oakland when they made off with thousands of dollars that had been raised to fly the bodies to Mexico for burial.

"It’s just so sad. Everything is so terrible," Maria Teresa Ortega, a cousin of the girls, said after the funeral Friday. "Nobody expects that anyone would do such a thing."

The family’s Honda Civic was stolen Thursday from a parking lot next to Cooper’s Chapel, a mortuary at Fruitvale and East 15th avenues, while relatives were inside attending a memorial service. In the back was a bag of cash that the family intended to use to transport the girls’ bodies to their native Mexico for burial and to pay for travel expenses for family members.

"This is more than we can bear," said Ortega, who was unsure exactly how much money was in the bag. "Please pray for us. When many people all pray together, that helps."

"I feel so terrible for them," said undertaker John McCormick, who was inside the chapel when the theft occurred. "It’s unbelievable."

Police came out and took a report but have not found the car.

Ortega said she did not know how the thieves got into the Honda or whether it could have been stolen by someone who knew the cash was there. In the confusion of bringing toddlers and infants from the parking lot into the chapel, she said, it’s possible the family left the car unlocked.

"We were all worried about other things at the time," she said.

Stephanie Cervantes, 14, and her cousin Jacklin Munguia-Herrera, 5, were killed Thanksgiving night in East Oakland when their Ford Mustang was struck broadside by a speeding SUV that failed to halt at a stop sign, police said.

Jacklin’s mother, Laura Herrera, 23, who was driving the Mustang, and Herrera’s daughter, Evalyn Munguia, 3, were hospitalized in critical condition.

The next day, police arrested Carmelo Salas, 28, and booked him for murder under the legal principle of implied malice, or engaging in an unlawful action with "conscious disregard" for human life.

Police said Salas, who was believed to be intoxicated, was traveling about 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.

About 500 people attended the funeral Mass on Friday for the girls at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Oakland. The bodies are to be flown to Pajacuaran, south of Guadalajara in Mexico, for burial.

Source

These Mexican illegal aliens (of course they’re illegal aliens) left a bag of cash in their car that was supposedly intended for use to fly the bodies of the dead girls back to Mexico and it just so happens the car was stolen? Which raises another question; why would the mothers send the bodies back to Mexico? Hmmm. How about, there was never any cash and the story was made up to elicit cash. Using the dead little girls can bring about mucho donated deniro. Si Si.