4 Women Are Killed in 2 Freeway Accidents

SIMI VALLEY —  Two horrific traffic wrecks within five miles and five hours of each other Wednesday claimed four women’s lives along the Simi Valley and Moorpark freeways.

“I’ve just never seen so many die in such a short time,” said one grim veteran CHP officer who would not give his name. “Maybe four in one day, but not four in a few hours.”

The first wreck came before dawn. Just after 4 a.m., two cars barreled toward each other in the dark along the fast lane of the westbound Simi Valley Freeway--one going the wrong way.

Bagel shop owner Diane Aloia, 40, of Simi Valley, had entered the westbound lanes going east in her Dodge Colt, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Dave Cockrill. A westbound driver flashed his lights at Aloia to warn her, but she did not change course, he said.

Meanwhile, a Chevrolet Corsica drove west in the same lane, carrying driver Loraine Perelez, 22, and passenger Diane Gonzales, 28, both of Baldwin Park.

Aloia’s eastbound Colt crested a rise just west of Madera Road. And for about four-tenths of a mile, the Colt and the westbound Corsica closed the gap in plain view of each other with headlights on, Cockrill said.

But a lack of skid marks shows neither car swerved. And neither car braked. They smashed into each other at full speed, probably killing all three women instantly, he said.

“You’d think there would have been time” for the cars to avoid each other, Cockrill said. “But it could have been two girls talking on their way to work and not paying attention to their driving.”

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The second accident came about 9:30 a.m., five miles to the southwest, near where the Simi Valley Freeway, or California 118, bends into the Moorpark Freeway, or California 23.

Moorpark College business student Yvonne Stenner, 20, was on her way to class in her compact Toyota pickup truck, a family friend said.

In front of her was a full-size black pickup full of empty aluminum cans. And behind her drove Brian Freeman, an auto-parts delivery man.

Freeman and other witnesses told The Times that the wind sucked a huge sackful of cans out of the bed and onto the road, where it burst, scattering cans across the freeway.

Stenner swerved onto the soft shoulder of the median. There, her left front wheel caught in the dirt. The truck rolled several times, crushing Stenner as her torso came out of the open window, said Freeman and others.

Freeman, 19, watched as the car went off the road and started to flip.

“I got out of my truck to see if I could do anything, and there was nothing I could do.”

The sight shook him badly. “It all happened in slow-motion in my head,” he said. “And every time I close my eyes, I see it over and over. It really sucks, man.”

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The driver of the truckload of cans seemed to slow briefly after losing his load, but he did not stop, said Deneen Gleghorn, a Simi Valley man who witnessed the wreck from his car.

“It appeared as though he looked in his rear-view mirror,” Gleghorn said. “And then he picked up speed again.”

Police are looking for the driver, who may face manslaughter charges, Cockrill said. “The tough part would be proving that he knew that this took place behind him,” he said. “Our biggest concern right now is finding out who it was.”

Anyone with information on either accident should call either Cockrill or Officer Brad Prows at the Highway Patrol at 654-4571.

While little is known about Perelez and Gonzales, friends and family mourned Aloia and Stenner on Wednesday.

Aloia ran the Such a Bagel shop in Port Hueneme and had just opened another shop in Camarillo in November, said co-worker Debbie Hill.

“She was the most loving, vivacious, full-of-life person you ever could meet,” said Hill, assistant manager of the Port Hueneme shop. “She made friends with just about everyone she came across. She was a beautiful person, a workaholic.”

She had two grown sons, and a teenage son, who lives with his father in Northern California, Hill said.

Aloia was probably driving to Port Hueneme to pick up a load of fresh bagels for the Camarillo shop--as she did every morning before dawn--when the wreck occurred, Hill said.

“Diane was real well-known here at the shop,” Hill said. “She had a lot of regular customers, people who have just been devastated all day as they hear about it.”

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Stenner’s family and friends also mourned.

She was majoring in business at Moorpark College, with no firm plans yet for her life ahead. But she had already traveled extensively to Thailand, Europe and Australia, said Ed Tingstrom, a family friend.

“She was a very gregarious, very outgoing person who had a real zeal for life, and she just loved being alive,” Tingstrom said. “She just loved being with her family and her friends. Her family and friends meant everything to her.”

Stenner’s brother lives in Newbury Park, but her parents live in Thailand.

Times correspondent Andrew D. Blechman contributed to this story.