A beloved great-grandmother was driving home from church services early morning on January 1, her family said, when she was hit head-on by a DUI driver and later died in the hospital.<\/p>\n
“She was only 10 more minutes away from making it home safely,” the victim’s family members wrote on a GoFundMe page. “She left us praising the lord until her last day.”<\/p>\n
The crash happened around 1:45 a.m. at Marguerite Parkway and Pueblonuevo Drive in Mission Viejo, according to the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n
The driver, 26-year-old Geraldine Caicedo-Perez, is now facing DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter charges \u2013 meanwhile, family members of the victim, 66-year-old Ynes Lagunes-Soto, are mourning her tragic passing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lady was my mother and I am very sad because she didn’t deserve to die, to be killed by that person who wasn’t well,\u201d the victim\u2019s daughter, Monica Lagunes, told KTLA\u2019s Chris Wolfe.<\/p>\n
Family members said Lagunes-Soto, who lived in San Juan Capistrano and worked for 25 years as a housekeeper, always put family first and was happiest surrounded by her many loved ones.<\/p>\n
According to the sheriff\u2019s department, Caicedo-Perez is being held at the Orange County Jail \u2013 her bail and next court date were not immediately made available.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re maintaining our faith,\u201d said Lagunes-Soto\u2019s grandson, Emmanuel Heredia. \u201cI think God has a plan for us and for her as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department is investigating the deadly collision and said anyone with information or evidence should contact the department.<\/p>\n
The tragic loss of Ynes Lagunes-Soto serves as a reminder of the devastating consequences of drunk driving. Our thoughts and condolences go out to her family and loved ones during this difficult time.<\/p>\n
Q: What was the cause of the crash?<\/strong> Q: Who is facing charges in connection with the crash?<\/strong> Q: What was the victim’s background?<\/strong> Q: How can I help the victim’s family?<\/strong> Fatal DUI Crash Claims Life of Beloved Great-Grandmother A beloved great-grandmother was driving home from church services early morning on January 1, her family said, when she was hit head-on by a DUI driver and later died in the hospital. Tragic Circumstances “She was only 10 more minutes away from making it home safely,” the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ktla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-mug-or-photo-bkg.png?w=900&w=900&resize=900,505&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4576,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574\/revisions\/4576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nA: The crash was caused by a DUI driver who hit the victim’s vehicle head-on.<\/p>\n
\nA: Geraldine Caicedo-Perez, the 26-year-old driver, is facing DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter charges.<\/p>\n
\nA: Ynes Lagunes-Soto was a 66-year-old woman who lived in San Juan Capistrano and worked as a housekeeper for 25 years.<\/p>\n
\nA: You can donate to a GoFundMe page set up by the victim’s family or contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department with any information or evidence related to the crash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"