Family and friends remember mother and daughter a year after their deaths at crash site

Austin L. Miller, Ocala Star-Banner
·4 min read

Xavier Martinez had never stopped at the spot where his mother and sister were killed in a two-vehicle wreck on south U.S. 441.

He’d passed the location several times.

That changed on Thanksgiving Day, when Martinez went to the site for the first time since the tragic crash a year ago. He wasn’t alone.

Joined by more than 20 family members and friends, Martinez shared his emotions.

Standing near the crash site, the 30-year-old Homestead man said he felt nervousness and sadness overcome him.

“I lost my mom and my sister,” he said. “They’re in a better place than us.”

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“Las extrañamos” – “we miss them” – is written on one of two posters paying tribute to two women who were killed in a two-vehicle wreck along U.S. 441 in November 2021.
“Las extrañamos” – “we miss them” – is written on one of two posters paying tribute to two women who were killed in a two-vehicle wreck along U.S. 441 in November 2021.

Roughly 200 yards away, Martinez’s family and friends gathered with flowers and two large white posters with pictures of Adriana, 61, and 32-year-old Heidy Martinez.

One by one, people wrote messages on the posters, which were placed next to each other and surrounded by flowers.

The crash

The family was traveling to North Carolina from Homestead for Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 24, 2021, when their lives changed forever.

Xavier Martinez, his wife, Erica; their daughter, Ellie, and his sister Heidy, along with their mother, Adriana, and father, Rolando Martinez, were in the vehicle.

Friends and family of Adriana and Heidy Martinez wrote dedications on two posters bearing their pictures at the site where the mother and daughter died in a car crash a year ago.
Friends and family of Adriana and Heidy Martinez wrote dedications on two posters bearing their pictures at the site where the mother and daughter died in a car crash a year ago.

Xavier Martinez said he remembers two vehicles speeding by and “barely a second later” felt their vehicle “lifting off the ground and flipping around.”

When they stopped, he called for his father and heard him saying he was all right.

Turning around, he saw there was no roof on the car anymore and he didn’t see the rest of his family. He removed his seat belt and got out of the vehicle to begin searching for everyone, including his daughter, who was not yet a year old.

This was the vehicle occupied by the Martinez family when FHP troopers said they were hit from behind by a pickup truck. Two women died from the wreck.
This was the vehicle occupied by the Martinez family when FHP troopers said they were hit from behind by a pickup truck. Two women died from the wreck.

Looking around, he said he found them scattered about — approximately 20 to 30 feet apart, on the grassy shoulder — south of Northwest 95th Street. He said he first found his sister; then his wife; third was his mother; and last was his daughter, who he heard crying.

Rolando Martinez had accompanied his son and was with him when they found Heidy Martinez. She was barely breathing.

“My dad held her when she took her last few breaths,” Xavier Martinez said.

When he went to his mother’s side, he said, he knew she was gone, too.

A truck driver stopped and gave Xavier Martinez a jacket to cover his daughter.

The Martinez family
The Martinez family

Florida Highway Patrol later identified Logan Levi Alexander Weir as the driver of an older model Chevy Silverado pickup truck that caused the crash.

Xavier Martinez said Weir appeared shaken and did not help.

Charges

Weir faces multiple charges, including two counts of DUI manslaughter, two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury to another.

Though Weir refused to perform a field sobriety exercise and declined to give a blood sample, law enforcement officials believe the crash was alcohol-related. When Weir was interviewed, troopers said they detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath.

FHP officials did later obtain a sample of Weir’s blood from a search warrant.

FHP troopers said this was the Chevy Silverado pickup truck that slammed an SUV from behind, killing two women in November 2021.
FHP troopers said this was the Chevy Silverado pickup truck that slammed an SUV from behind, killing two women in November 2021.

Troopers estimated Weir was driving his older model pickup truck faster than 100 mph when it slammed into the back of the Kia Sedona sport utility vehicle occupied by Martinez’s family.

The posted speed limit of the roadway is 65 mph, authorities said.

Now 33, Weir, of Boca Raton, is free on bond and represented by Michael Sawyer. Weir’s case is ongoing, with his next court date scheduled for early 2023.

Remembering the victims

At the gathering, family and friends consoled each other. Forming a semi-circle, several of them stood in the middle and spoke about the victims.

In speeches given in both English and Spanish, the theme was love, friendship and joy the women had for everyone they met.

Xavier and Erica Martinez with their daughter, Ellie.
Xavier and Erica Martinez with their daughter, Ellie.

For the driver they say caused the crash and hurt them deeply, the family said they will pray for him. They urge drivers not to drink and drive and to seek Jesus for help in solving their problems.

Before departing, the group promised the women they will live and love just as they did and promised that they will always be remembered.

“Enjoy time with your family while you still have the time because you definitely have to do time,” Xavier Martinez said.

Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Homestead family remembers loved ones killed a year ago in Marion crash