Lorena Lopez Tragically Killed in Apple Valley Crash

APPLE VALLEY, CA – Lorena Lopez, 33, and her unborn twins were killed Saturday, June 27, when a driver ran a stop sign and broadsided her car at an Apple Valley intersection, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Her two teenage children, who were riding with her, were hospitalized with serious injuries.

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Lorena Lopez’s Collision in San Bernardino County

Lopez was driving north on Wichita Road around 8:20 p.m. with her 15- and 16-year-old children, headed to a family gathering, when a 25-year-old man driving a Toyota Camry ran a stop sign at the intersection with Zuni Road and struck her Nissan Altima broadside, the Sheriff’s Department said. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene. She was five months pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, who also did not survive.

Her children were taken to a trauma center, where they remain hospitalized. Family members said the injuries include concussions, brain swelling and broken ribs.

The other driver became trapped inside his car as it caught fire after the collision. Neighbors extinguished the flames before firefighters arrived, and the man was freed and taken to a hospital for treatment. The Sheriff’s Department has not released his identity or announced charges. Investigators with the department’s Major Accident Investigation Team have not said whether speed or impairment played a role, and the case remains under investigation.

Family and friends gathered at the crash site Wednesday, July 1, for a vigil. “We want justice,” Lopez’s stepfather, Carlos Espinosa, told KTLA. Her boyfriend, Albert Benitez, described her as a devoted mother who at one point worked three jobs. Relatives said Lopez was a healthcare worker who had been preparing for a baby shower planned for the following month. A GoFundMe campaign set up to cover funeral costs and her children’s medical care had raised more than $15,000 as of this week.

Traffic Safety Context in San Bernardino County

San Bernardino County recorded 14,615 people injured or killed in traffic collisions in 2024, a 3% decline from the year before and a 4% drop in the per capita rate since 2015, according to county data drawn from state collision records. Despite that improvement, San Bernardino remains one of five Southern California counties — along with Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego — that together account for close to half of all traffic deaths statewide, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Statewide, speed was a factor in roughly one in four fatal crashes in 2024, per OTS data, and failure-to-yield or right-of-way violations, including drivers who run stop signs, have consistently ranked among the leading causes of serious and fatal collisions on San Bernardino County roads.

Contact J&Y Law

A crash that takes a mother and her unborn children changes a family’s life in an instant, and the road toward accountability comes with firm deadlines. California law generally requires personal injury and wrongful death claims to be filed within two years of the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, and any claim naming a government entity, such as San Bernardino County, must be filed within six months under the Government Claims Act. J&Y Law represents families across California, including throughout San Bernardino County and the High Desert, in fatal crash cases, and handles every case on a contingency-fee basis, meaning families pay nothing unless we recover compensation on their behalf.