Calif. Woman, 20, Who Live-Streamed DUI Crash That Killed Younger Sister Is Released on Parole
The 20-year-old California woman who was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2018 for driving drunk while live-streaming a car crash that killed her younger sister has been released on parole.
Obdulia Sanchez of Stockton was released on Sept. 21, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) confirms, multiple outlets including the Merced Sun-Star and local stations KSEE and KGPE report.
Sanchez was released after earning credit for time served while awaiting her sentence and for completing rehabilitative programs in prison, the CDCR says, YourCentralValley.com reports.
In February 2018, a judge sentenced the then-18-year-old to six years and four months in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI and child endangerment for the July 21, 2017, crash that killed her 14-year-old sister Jacqueline Sanchez and injured 15-year-old Manuela Seja.
Sanchez lost control of her vehicle while live-streaming a video of the car ride on Instagram and broadcasting it on social media – while driving drunk.
RELATED: Ca. Teen Who Live-Streamed Car Crash That Killed Sister Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Prison
She crashed into a fence in a field on the side of the highway near Los Banos, ejecting both of the teens in the back seat, who weren’t wearing seat belts.
“I feel like such an idiot,” Sanchez said in an emotional statement in Merced County Superior Court on the day of her sentencing.
Breaking down into tears, she said, “Why did God choose me to be the older sister? I can’t even do my job right. I had so much potential, but I threw it all away because I wanted to look cool and drive carelessly.”
The CDCR did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In a statement released to YourCentralValley.com, the CDCR said, “The sentencing court gave her 404 days of pre-sentence credits, given for time served while awaiting sentencing.
She also received “10 additional days of post-sentence and vested credits for time served while awaiting transport to prison and the corresponding good-time credits,” it said.
Sanchez also earned milestone and rehabilitation achievement credits for completing rehabilitative programs, the CDCR said in the statement.
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Sanchez remains devastated that she killed her sister and injured her young friend.
“She feels absolutely horrible about what happened,” her attorney, Ramnik Samrao, told PEOPLE previously.
“She will always be responsible for killing her sister. She will always be dealing with that.”
In an interview with YourCentralValley.com shortly after the crash, Obdulia said, “I didn’t even know I looked like a monster — like, I look like a freaking horrible monster,” she said. “That was not my intention at all.”
Before her car careened off the road, Sanchez said, “We were perfectly freaking fine. Then next thing I know, we started going left. We started going left, then I started to stop the car. Then we flipped over.”
“And then I look in the back seat and there’s nobody in the back seat, and that’s when I started freaking out,” she recalled.
When Sanchez saw her sister lying in the field, “I knew she was dead,” she told KGPE. “I took her pulse and she had no pulse.”
Sanchez continued to live stream the aftermath of the crash, even showing herself kneeling by her sister’s body, urging her to wake up. “I don’t f‑‑‑‑‑‑ care, though,” Sanchez said in the video.
“If you don’t survive, baby, I am so f‑‑‑‑‑‑ sorry. I did not mean to kill you, sweetie. Sweetie, I am f‑‑‑‑‑‑ sorry. Sweetie, please, wake up!”
Describing her sister as her best friend, Sanchez said in the interview, “She’s like my mini-me. She looked just like me. Any time I look at her, it’s like I’m looking at myself. It makes me really sad that she’s gone.”
“My parents are grieving,” she said. “They want me back home. The house is super lonely without us. We were like the joy of the house.”
