Las Cruces Police are continuing to investigate Wednesday morning’s crash on U.S. Highway 70 that claimed the lives of a 15-year-old high school student and his mother.
Keian Padilla, 15, and his 35-year-old mother Marcia K. Parra were pronounced dead at the scene of today’s crash on U.S. Highway 70 just east of the Sonoma Ranch overpass. Padilla and Parra were the only occupants of a 4-door sedan that was headed eastbound on Highway 70 when it was struck by an Isuzu Rodeo that was traveling westbound and, for some reason, crossed the center divide.
The crash was reported shortly after 8 a.m.
The driver of the Rodeo, a 21-year-old woman from Las Cruces, was ejected after the collision and her vehicle rolled over at least once, coming to a rest on Bataan Memorial East. The woman was initially transported to a Las Cruces hospital and then airlifted to University Medical Center of El Paso.
Both directions of Highway 70 were closed for several hours while traffic investigators gathered evidence and plotted the scene. Bataan Memorial East also was closed between Sonoma Ranch Boulevard and Mesa Grande Drive. Both roadways were re-opened to traffic by mid-afternoon.