4 Women Killed in 2 Accidents

SIMI VALLEY —  Two 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 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 just after 4 a.m., when 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, said CHP spokesman Dave Cockrill. A westbound driver flashed his lights at Aloia to warn her, but she did not change course, he said.

Headed west in the same lane were driver Loraine Perelez, 22, and passenger Diane Gonzales, 28, both of Baldwin Park.

For about four-tenths of a mile, the two cars closed the gap in plain view of each other, headlights on, Cockrill said, but neither swerved or 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 perhaps the drivers were not paying attention.

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

Moorpark College business student Yvonne Stenner, 20, was on her way to class, a family friend said. In front of her was a 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 sackful of cans out of the bed and onto the road, where it burst, scattering cans across the freeway.

Stenner swerved onto the soft median, where her left front wheel caught in the dirt, flipping her small truck. “I got out of my truck to see if I could do anything, and there was nothing I could do,” said Freeman, 19.

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

“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.

Times correspondent Andrew D. Blechman contributed to this story.