Posted on 09/07/2008 7:34:35 PM PDT by beaversmom
AURORA — As new questions arose about the man police say is responsible for the tragedy, several hundred friends and relatives gathered Saturday night outside an ice cream shop to mourn three lives suddenly lost.
"It hurts now," said Vito Kudlis, surrounded by friends as he and his wife, Enely, wept for their 3-year-old son, Marten. "It is freaky. It is crazy."
Marten, Patricia Guntharp, 49, of Centennial and Debra Serecky, 51, of Aurora all died when a Thursday night collision caused vehicles to careen into the Baskin-Robbins at the corner of South Havana Street and East Mississippi Avenue.
Saturday night, they were remembered in a candlelight vigil. Small children held glow sticks as others added stuffed animals — especially bears — to a memorial.
Francis Hernandez, the man being held for suspicion of vehicular homicide in the deaths, is now being detained by federal immigration officials.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sent a faxed detainer on Hernandez, 23, at 12:04 a.m. Saturday, indicating his U.S. citizenship is under question, according to Arapahoe County jail officials and federal authorities.
Hernandez has been arrested 16 times in five years in Colorado but apparently has never been deported, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
On Friday, Aurora authorities had indicated they believed he was a U.S. citizen.
Hernandez had been arrested in Denver as recently as July 18 on a traffic stop and charged with numerous crimes, including resisting police, CBI records say. Had he been held on an ICE detainer at that time, he would have been jailed until his case was completed and his sentence served and then deported, a time-consuming process.
Hernandez is now being held on the ICE detainer and for investigation of three counts of vehicular homicide, reckless driving and hit and run in Thursday night's accident, Aurora police spokesman Lt. John Sopranuk said.
His bail was raised Friday from $10,000 to $100,000, according to Sgt. Lisa Grosskruger of the Arapahoe County jail.
Sopranuk said Hernandez was driving a Chevy Suburban rapidly and erratically south on South Havana shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. Police said he ran a red light at the intersection of Mississippi and Havana.
The SUV hit a northbound white Mazda pickup carrying Guntharp and Serecky, which was turning into the Good Times burger outlet. The impact sent the truck more than 100 feet into the corner of the Baskin-Robbins in the Market Square shopping center.
The two women were killed by the impact and Marten suffered fatal injuries from flying debris.
Dating back to 2003, Hernandez has been arrested for mostly misdemeanor offenses 16 times by police officers in Denver, Longmont, Aurora, Westminster, Lakewood and Broomfield and sheriff's deputies in Boulder, Gilpin and Arapahoe counties, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. His charges have included forgery, assault, theft, fraud and driving under restraint.
Sopranuk said Friday that Hernandez was born in California and is a U.S. citizen.
But he added that detectives could find no indication that he had ever held a driver's license in California or Colorado.
Also according to CBI records, Hernandez, who has 11 aliases and two listed birth dates, has four listed birth places, including Mexico.
ICE placed a detainer because of indications he was born outside the country, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok. Officers are currently investigating his citizenship, he said.
When ICE did not place a hold on Hernandez following his July 18 arrest, he was released and has since been listed as a fugitive, according to CBI records.
There were multiple warrants for his arrest when the fatal accident happened Thursday, Sopranuk said.
Sopranuk could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Rusnok said it is possible that if Hernandez is in the country illegally that his status was not checked or identified previously despite numerous arrests.
He said in some instances suspects are arrested for minor offenses and they are released on bail or serve short sentences before a citizenship check is done.
ICE places a priority on deporting illegal immigrants who have been arrested for crimes, Rusnok said. Sometimes ICE agents make regular visits to jails checking for suspects illegally in the country, he said.
Back at the ice cream shop on Saturday night, the family announced that Marten's funeral will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Fairmont Cemetery. Arrangements for Guntharp and Serecky are pending.
A "Memory of Marten Fund" has been established at Bank of the West.
Ping
There are no words.
It must be stopped and stopped now.
If you are local to the crime, please write your local District Attorney (DA) to remind her that illegal aliens are required to register for Selective Service when residing in the U.S...subject to a $250,000 fine and serious jail time for failure to register.
This is an *easy* court case to win for any DA, as either the perp’s name is in the federal database or not.
I’m up here in Longmont. If I committed half of the crimes this jerk has I would be in jail right now. Why do they continually let these people walk?
I hope the people of Denver get stark raving mad over this!!!
Prayers for the ladies and the child.....
Said the same thing to my husband.
Denver: Dhimmicratic mayor. Sanctuary city.
Colorado: Dhimmicratic governor. Sez Denver is not a sanctuary city.
‘Nuff said.
The Peter Boyles talk show on Denver KHOW, 630, will surely be on top of this tomorrow morn @ 6am MST. They’ve been highlighting the illegal farce for months now, and of course, the Denver Post (D), the Rocky Mountain News (D), the television stations (D) - except Fox, of course, are all participating actively in the coverup. Conservatives have been trying to initiate a law allowing police to hold into vehicles driven by those without licenses. You know the dhimmi repy...”Racist”....
Francis Hernandez did not have a valid driver’s license or proof of insurance
Aurora Police say Hernandez fled on-foot from the accident but was arrested a short time later in southeast Denver.
Court records show Hernandez has a lengthy criminal history including arrests for assault, larceny, fraud, forgery, criminal mischief, obstructing police, and failure to appear in court.
Hernandez has been arrested 16 times in five years in Colorado but apparently has never been deported, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
My Leftist friends in Colorado think they need the California Regulations of Govt. to fix things like this.
What is disgusting is that neither candidate cares a whit about stopping this plague.
I told my husband that too—Peter Boyles will be all over it on Monday, but I don’t know what good it will do. Maybe Caplis and Silverman will be talking about it—along with Gunny Bob and Caldera. Nothing ever changes though.
Kudlis (3 year-old) was in the Baskin Robbins with his family and police say debris pulled him out of the store where he was found after the crash.
"There was a Good Samaritan couple that actually attended to Marten and removed him from the debris and was with him at his last moments," said Lt. John Sopranuk with the Aurora Police Department.
I know. I know. Those women and that three year old were GOD’s children too!
A friend of the Kudlis family says no words can describe their loss.
“They had just left the park a little bit ago. Mom was up at the counter ordering ice cream and all of a sudden there comes a car through the door and Marten was hit,” said Sean Erhard, a family friend. “He was a great kid.”
“I don’t know what else to say,” said Erhard. “I’ve been in tears since last night.”
9NEWS has learned Hernandez was born in California. It is not known when he moved to Colorado but his criminal history in Colorado started in 2003 when he was 18 years old when he faced a third-degree assault charge in Broomfield.
It took the deaths of three innocent victims before this bastard is put behind bars.
Our “system” needs killing.
Probably released as a direct result of Denver being a sanctuary city.
With any luck, family of the people killed will sue Denver.
Yup. Just when I start feeling good about the Republican ticket, this reminder comes up to remind me how weak Mr. McCain is on the issue of illegal immigration. I havn’t really hear what Palin feels about it. But it’s probaly wise she keep quiet about it. if she did speak out in favor of cracking down illegal immigration, she’ll be called a racist piece of trailer trash in the media.
I'm not sure if that's true. Fox local just had an intro saying that there is outrage as the families learn that the driver should have never been in the country. I'll listen in and let you know.
Be quiet!
Don't upset the apple cart here.
This is the cost of globalization and open borders; just the risks we have to take as Americans.
WE ARE ALL AMERICANS.
Thanks.
I think that was an old article I posted from.
Another one:
I haven’t been following local news the last couple of weeks. They said on Fox local news this guy had lots of priors too. This one happened on September 1 in Littleton:
1 killed when car careens into group
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10358217
Several people darted out of the way, but the victim didn’t move, Broadhead said. Police are trying to identify the victim, an illegal immigrant, he said.
The suspect also is an undocumented immigrant, and there was a warrant for his arrest for driving without a license.
No problem. From what they are saying on Fox news tonight he is a suspected illegal.
sounds like colorado needs to break out the long needle for this guy.... give mexico another case to plead in front of the “world court”
by any means necessary. NOW.
Heartbreaking!
Terry Anderson LIVE Thread - September 7, 2008
Everything you should know about immigration.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076965/posts
Listen Live Now!
This is horrible. Whoever let him go should be fired and jailed, period.
More McCain/Bush/Clinton/Liberal madness...there were 3 shootings tonight in San Jose...guess who...?
The miserable politically-correct handcuffed politicians are so fearful of being called a racist that they do nothing, and get contributions from La Raza/MeCha.
Boyles is on this this morning. The perps rap sheet is at the top of his web page here:
http://www.khow.com/pages/boyles.html
Yep, I’ve been listening. Did you check out his Myspace page? Not much on there really—”F” the police and he wants to “meet some fine b!tches that are down for watevers”. I hope these families sue. Sue the person that sold him that truck. Sue the cities involved. Sue, sue, sue. Only when people are being held accountable, will this crap stop. Peter Boyles is talking about a class action type suit. I hope he’s not just talking.
Me too. I part ways with Pete on some things, but I am with him on this issue.
Is that my space on Petes websight?
Yep—same link you gave me.
I sent this to John McCain’s website. Not that the maverick gives a flying flip, but I sent it anyway.
Dear Senator McCain,
One of God’s children just killed a 3 year old in Aurora, CO. He was sitting in Baskin Robbins, just a couple of miles from my house, while his mother was at the counter getting him an ice cream cone.
The child of God also killed two women moments before. He had at least 16 priors and was still out driving around.
When our government is an accomplice in murdering its own citizens, what are we Average Joes supposed to do? Legal United States citizens are getting fed up.
Your motto is country first—time to start acting like that in all areas.
Sincerely,
I see. It wasn’t there before. Can’t take that music though. I took today off, it is taking all my effort to turn 50 today... {:0)
Good for you.
Happy Birthday to you. Try to get your mind of this evil craziness and do something fun. My brother turned 51 yesterday and brother in law turned 40 yesterday too.
Thanks. Gonna shoot rifles with my son if the rain lets up.
They can do whatever they want as long as they pick lettuce in the hot Arizona sun for slave wages.
Now that sounds like an excellent idea. FR mail me if you know of anywhere in the mountains to shoot for free. Husband and oldest son were going to shoot my dad’s .22 a few weeks back, but it was prohibited wherever we went.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/05/car-crashes-baskin-robbins-kills-child/
Family grapples with 3-year-old’s death
Friday, September 5, 2008
Marten Kudlis had the type of evening any 3-year-old would love. He went to the park with his mom then stopped at Baskin-Robbins for an ice cream treat.
But as the little boy sat at a table by the window Thursday night, a hit-and-run driver without a valid license slammed into a pickup truck outside. The pickup then went scraping against the ice cream store’s facade, dragging debris from a utility box and pulling Marten to his death.
“I loved him so much. He was my only child,” Marten’s father, Vito Kudlis, 36, said Friday as he wept where his son died near East Mississippi Avenue and South Havana Street.
Two women in the pickup truck, driver Patricia Guntharp, 49, of Centennial, and Debra Serecky, 51, of Aurora, also were killed. They were turning left into a hamburger restaurant when they were broadsided.
Serecky and Guntharp were “best friends,” said a man at his Aurora home who identified himself as Serecky’s husband. He said he didn’t want to talk. “Her kids don’t know yet,” he said. “Just give me a day or so.”
Calls to Guntharp’s home went unanswered. “She was super nice,” said neighbor Jacob Luck. “Her son came over to talk to us a little bit.”
One of Guntharp’s former neighbors, Barbara Buss, of Aurora, said she was too distraught to talk. “I’m in shock,” Buss said. “They lived next door for years.”
Two women and a 10-year-old girl, who was a friend of the Kudlis family, also were inside the ice cream shop and suffered minor to serious injuries.
Friday, a child’s camouflage hat, candles and a small, stuffed dalmatian toy leaned against the light pole where Marten drew his last breath. His parents also placed a photo of their smiling son. Another photo leaned on a ledge, with flowers, beneath the shattered window where he had sat.
Marten, a playful child with a constant smile, had just celebrated his birthday on Aug. 22.
“Why, Jesus, why?” Vito Kudlis wailed as he visited the scene of the accident. “I just don’t understand why God let this happen. I don’t know what to do. My son was such a good boy.”
Kudlis and his wife, Eneily, 33, immigrated to the United States from Russia. The couple moved to Colorado eight years ago from Coney Island, N.Y.
‘Nothing we could do’
“I loved him so much,” Eneily Kudlis said. “You would think he would be safe in a building. I don’t understand. I don’t understand why he wasn’t safe.”
Tom Rudy, who owns a liquor store nearby, said he heard a loud crash about 8 p.m., called 911 then went to help.
He saw a woman come out of the ice cream shop, her leg red with blood. She said she was OK. One of the vehicles had gas pouring out of it. Rudy could smell the fumes and worried it would explode.
“It was pretty chaotic,” Rudy said. “There was nothing we could do.”
The driver accused of causing the crash ran from the scene and called a friend to pick him up, police said. Police arrested Francis Hernandez, 23, more than four hours later, about 5 miles away, in southeast Denver.
Lt. John Sopranuk said detectives were able to trace Hernandez’s whereabouts based on evidence they found from the Suburban he was driving. He did not disclose what the evidence was.
The vehicle didn’t belong to Hernandez or his friend, nor was it stolen.
Detectives also were looking at the possibility that Hernandez may have showered and destroyed his clothing after the crash, Sopranuk said. Hernandez allegedly told the friend that he fled because he didn’t have a driver’s license or insurance. Hernandez’s friend, who picked him up, is cooperating with police. Hernandez suffered cuts and bruises to his torso and forehead from the collision, the lieutenant said.
Hernandez, who has a lengthy rap sheet, is being held on $100,000 bail. He faces three counts of vehicular homicide, hit and run, vehicular assault and numerous other charges.
Before the wreck, Hernandez was speeding and moving in and out of traffic south on Havana Street, witnesses said. At least three witnesses told detectives that he ran a red light at Mississippi before broadsiding Guntharp’s pickup truck.
Customers ‘like family’
Both vehicles careened into the Baskin-Robbins, the pickup ripping out a utility box. It was the debris from that utility box that somehow snared Marten.
Vito Kudlis buried his face in his hands as he paced back and forth in front of the memorial to his son.
“I never thought something like this would happen,” the father said. “Please come back. Please come back.”
Even strangers stopped to place flowers and stuffed animals at the memorial.
“I have twins his age. It’s so hard,” said Jennifer Clayburn, 21, who lives nearby. “I just keep thinking . . . what if it was my kids. To think his family came here to have a good time and ice cream, and now they have nothing.”
Jason Pierce, who owns the Baskin-Robbins franchise, said his customers are “like family.”
“This hurts when something like this happens,” Pierce said.
Friday, he was still “pretty much speechless.”
“My heart goes out to the families that were tragically affected by this,” Pierce said. “It’s the last place you think it would happen.”
A vote for Obama or McAmnesty will perpetuate this plague.
Honetly, anywhere in the national forest. I meet friends at a spot west of Lions. If you want a formal range, there is one by the forest ranger station west of Hot Sulpher Springs (west of Grandby) that is free. Has 100 & 200 yard rangees with shooting benches, handgun range. There is an indoor range (rifle and handgun at Jewell and Wadsworth in Lakewood. Little expensive but when you consider gas and convenience it’s not bad.
www.gmfsc.org
It seems the only way the federal government will deport an illegal alien is only once the illegal has killed an American!
Political Correctness has nearly destroyed our national survival instinct. A large segment of our population thinks the deaths of thousands of innocent people is a small price to pay to add “diversity” to a community.
Peter Boyles on local radio just said that they had originally set this guy’s bail at $10,000. This is after he killed 3 people. I believe it was later changed to $100K.
Both Obama and McCain intend to give these freaks a free pass and make them US citizens!
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