Richland driver charged after birthday celebration ended in the death of her 3 friends
Andres Esteban Morfin was a charismatic young man with a “smile that would brighten up a room” and a passion for boxing and football.
Morfin turned 20 on Feb. 24.
Two days later, he got together with a group of friends to celebrate his birthday at a Pasco house. At some point the party moved to the Denny’s restaurant in Richland to get some food.
The group was on its way back to Pasco when driver Jennifer Ana Duong lost control of her car and crashed into a metal traffic light pole.
Morfin, his cousin and his best friend all died in the early Sunday high-speed collision.
Duong was the only survivor.
Now, the 19-year-old Richland woman is charged with the deaths of Morfin, Lianna Victoria Salazar and Daniel Antonio Trejo.
Free after posting bond
Witnesses say Duong had been “driving erratically” and started racing another car just moments before hitting the pole at George Washington Way and Jadwin Avenue, according to court documents.
The driver admitted to drinking a shot of vodka and 1 1/2 beers earlier in the night, documents said.
Prosecutors charged Duong with three counts of vehicular homicide, with allegations that she was under the influence or drove in a reckless manner.
She was arrested Sunday morning after being checked out and treated for an injured hand at a Tri-Cities hospital.
On Monday, a judge set her bail at $250,000 given the potential risk to the community if released.
By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Duong was free after posting bond.
She is expected back in court Thursday to enter a plea. While her case is pending, she’s been ordered to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet and to avoid all alcohol and non-prescription drugs.
Tributes the the victims
Court documents show Morfin, Salazar and Trejo died instantly in the 2:46 a.m. crash.
Salazar — whose nickname was Pinky — and Morfin — who also went by Andrew — were cousins, and Trejo and Morfin were best friends.
A GoFundMe campaign started by Morfin’s mother has raised more than $16,000 to help cover funeral expenses for Morfin and Salazar.
“They were amazing young adults full of life, energetic, both had a smile that would brighten a room,” wrote Ilda Morfin. “They are both loved by many and will be greatly missed. ... We are never prepared for such tragedy.”
She thanked people for their “love and support” during this difficult time.
Alex Morfin posted a tribute on the Valley Hills Funeral Home & Crematory website that he will “forever cherish every moment” with his big brother and wants to throw the football with him one more time.
He also said he misses his cousin, Salazar.
“(I know) you went to heaven walking together ‘cause God knew you guys couldn’t do it without each other ...,” wrote Alex Morfin. “I’ll stay strong for mom and pops like you would have wanted me (to).”
Salazar, 19, went to Kamiakin High with Duong.
Her obituary says she was “a teenager full of life exploring her potential and her possibilities.” She loved her job at Wheeler’s Smoke-N-Gas in Mabton, listening to Bad Bunny music and taking her cousins out to Dutch Bros.
Funeral services scheduled
Salazar’s mother, Angelica Ramirez, left a message on her daughter’s tribute wall asking her “baby girl” to come home.
“Mommy just wants to feel you, touch you and kiss your beautiful face one more time,” said Ramirez.
On Andres Morfin’s page, she wrote: “Love & miss you my beautiful boy. Please give my Pinky bear kisses for us. Our hearts are forever broken.”
A cousin, Mya, said words can’t reflect “the true pain I will always feel to know you have left this Earth.”
“It’s sickening to know you have left so soon — too soon,” she wrote on Salazar’s tribute page. “What will bring me happiness is the knowledge that you three are in God’s arms. Running around, smiling and reunited with our family members we lost.”
A makeshift memorial has been growing at the crash site with flowers, balloons and pictures. On a pink mylar balloon, Salazar’s dad wrote: “I will forever keep u alive. Your [sic] da best Daughter a dad can have. Rest in peace.”
The families are holding a joint visitation for the cousins on Sunday and a funeral service Monday.
Trejo, 19, was being buried Thursday after a Christian mass in Grandview.
Loved ones described Trejo on his Smith Funeral Homes tribute page as “shy yet strong-willed,” kind-hearted, independent and goofy.
“Danny was a handsome, respectful young man and made us all proud with his accomplishments,” wrote Anadelia Gonzales, his older sister’s best friend. “He loved his family and friends and was the type of person that would do anything and everything for them.”
Witness slowed down
When Richland police arrived at the crash site, they found Duong’s Acura TL had sheared at an angle upon impact. The back half was stuck on the pole in the intersection’s “traffic island” and the front of the car landed about 130 feet away.
A witness told officers that after getting off work, she stopped for gas at the corner of George Washington and Symons Street. She noticed a white BMW sedan with two younger women while at the gas station.
Once back in her car, the witness was heading south on George Washington in the left lane when she saw Duong’s black Acura turn into the right lane from Williams Boulevard, court documents said.
The woman said she “slowed down to avoid being hit” because the Acura was driving erratically.
That’s when the white sedan that she had seen minutes before at the gas station passed her, got into the left lane in front of her own car and pulled even with the Acura, documents said.
At the George Washington and Lee Boulevard intersection, “the two vehicles seemed to take off as if they were racing, and ... as they rounded the curve the Acura struck the pole at Jadwin,” court documents said.
The witness said she immediately stopped her car and called 911.
Police initially asked for the public’s help in identifying two women in the BMW. The department later reported that the BMW driver and passenger, both juveniles, came forward to police later Sunday.
They have not been identified by police.
Officer Brandon Koe interviewed Duong at the hospital.
She said after leaving the restaurant, she “just started speeding up” on George Washington. She acknowledged going fast. Then told Koe her speed was around “50, maybe more,” documents said.
That stretch of George Washington is 35 mph.
City traffic camera footage reportedly shows the Acura traveling east on Williams onto George Washington Way. An officer noted the Acura and white sedan were clearly driving higher than the speed limit “given the movement of other vehicles on camera.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 12:23 PM.