‘People loved that kid.’ Ambitious Tri-Cities grad killed away at college in wrong-way crash

A former Chiawana Riverhawk, musician and “friend to many” died in a car crash on Friday that also killed two fellow University of California-Davis students.

Pasco native Codi Orland Mateo was in his senior year at UC Davis, majoring in neurobiology, physiology and behavior, reportedly hoping to become an anesthesiologist.

He was also a part of the student organization Filipinx Association for Health Careers, according to a news release from the university.

“We are absolutely devastated and struggling to come to terms with such immense loss,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May in the news release. “On behalf of the UC Davis community, we send our condolences to the family, friends and others who knew and loved them. Our Aggie family shares deeply in your pain and loss.”

Four people in all died in the wrong-way collision on March 31, in which the wrong-way driver is suspected of driving under the influence, according to California Highway Patrol.

The three UC Davis students were in the SUV that was hit head-on on Highway 99 in San Joaquin County near Lathrop, about 60 miles south of Sacramento.

The woman who hit them about 12:45 a.m. also was killed, according to the highway patrol crash report obtained by the Sacramento Bee.

She was driving without headlights after her car was damaged a short time earlier in a hit-and-run collision, said the report.

The impact of the collision also forced the students’ SUV to hit two other cars on the highway. The first was minor and the driver was not hurt. The second driver was injured and also arrested for DUI, according to the CHP.

Chiawana band

Mateo graduated from Chiawana High School in 2021 and had spent his four years there involved with Chiawana’s various bands, according to his former band teacher Kevin Clayton.

He played bass in the jazz band, euphonium in the wind ensemble and baritone for the marching band.

Mateo was also part of the drum corps The Columbians while in Tri-Cities. Clayton said Mateo was continuing his participation in music while in California and a “very large family” of musicians was grieving his death.

“His path was wide,” Clayton told the Herald. “And people loved that kid.”

Clayton described Mateo as an “exemplary student, great kid and friend to many.”

He was studious and quiet, but was really funny and quick-witted with those who knew him. Mateo and Clayton were even neighbors for a time when Mateo was a Chiawana upperclassmen.

“The circumstances by which he passed away, I hope that those are always secondary to the fact that he was just such a cool kid, a smart kid, a talented kid and a well-liked kid,” Clayton said. “I hope that we just all live in those memories.”

The other two students who died were Minkyu Geon from Hong Kong and Margarette Guinto Ventura from Virginia.

This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 3:50 PM.