Family finds crosses defaced at crash site
Fernando Santacruz is familiar with the pile of stuffed animals and sympathy cards left at the memorial site for his ex-wife, 9-year-old son and three other family members killed in a drunken driving collision at Farm Road and Tenaya Way.
But when he went to the makeshift memorial Wednesday night with about a dozen family members, he saw something that was like a slap in the face.
Someone had attached paper messages reading “Free Ronnie” on the five wooden crosses erected for the victims who died after 19-year-old Ronald Jayne Jr. slammed into their vehicle in a GMC Sierra.
Jayne had a blood alcohol level of 0.19 percent on the night of the collision, more than twice the legal limit, according to a source familiar with the investigation. He remains behind bars at the county jail.
For Santacruz and other family members, those “Free Ronnie” signs were the ultimate gesture of disrespect. Someone had defaced the crosses with messages of support for the man accused in the deaths of their loved ones. The family removed them and tore them up.
What happened next, however, struck fear into their hearts, Santacruz said.
About 9:30 p.m., a group of young men in a Ford Ranger drove up to the memorial blasting loud music and laughing loudly. They peeled out but returned minutes later, shouting “Let Ron free” and “This is for Ron,” family members said.
Mario Dominguez, a relative of the crash victims, said he heard the young men shout, “(Expletive) the dead!”
Santacruz said, “They made us angry because we’re here to pray for our family.”
He said he and others were afraid that the men might be armed and, angry that Jayne was behind bars, might turn violent against the family.
Speaking at the Regional Justice Center on Thursday morning after a hearing for Jayne, Dominguez had a message for those responsible for defacing the crosses: “Stay away. Leave those signs out of there.”
“There’s been a big tragedy here. And if they do this again, there might be a bigger tragedy next time,” he said.
A bail hearing for Jayne was postponed until Wednesday while prosecutors continued to put the case together.
Jayne faces eight counts of driving under the influence involving a death or substantial bodily harm. Witnesses told police that Jayne was driving at least 70 mph on Farm Road before he ran through a stop sign and collided with a sport utility vehicle driven by Claudia Dominguez, 32, who died in the crash. Four others died, and three were wounded.
L.J. O’Neale, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting Jayne, declined to comment in detail about the case Thursday. He said the district attorney’s office will ask for “significant” bail at Wednesday’s hearing.
Jeffrey Shaner, the attorney representing Jayne, said Jayne and his family had nothing to do with the “Free Ronnie” messages.
“Certainly that was not at the behest of my client or his family. We have no idea who those people are,” he said.
Shaner wouldn’t discuss the details of the case against Jayne but said his family is devastated.
“They’re decent people, and they are deeply affected by what happened to everyone,” he said.
Even friends of Jayne were upset that someone would deface the crosses.
“I think it’s disrespectful,” said a 17-year-old who gave only her first name, Ashley.
She and a friend were at the memorial Thursday afternoon. A sign placed behind the crosses bore the message “Don’t Drink & Drive — Arbor View Cares.” Many of Jayne’s friends attend Arbor View high school, about a half-mile from the site, Ashley said.
But people had written messages of support for Jayne on the Arbor View sign, including “Free Ronnie,” the same message that angered the family. Others wrote “We all love you, may you be forgiven” and “Love Ronnie & RIP to the family.”
Ashley said the “Free Ronnie” messages were not only disrespectful to the victims, they cast Jayne and his family as spiteful even though they had nothing to do with them.
“I don’t like it and would like to take a marker and scratch it out,” she said. “They really aren’t helping their friend out at all.”
