Pregnant Mother Yesenia Aguilar Remembered In Anaheim

ANAHEIM, CA — A 40-year-old Garden Grove woman was charged this week with second-degree murder for a collision in Anaheim that killed a 23-year-old pregnant mother, leaving her husband grieving, and their baby fighting for her life.

James Alvarez and his wife, Yesenia Lisette Aguilar, were taking an evening walk along Katella Avenue Tuesday evening. Taking regular walks was part of their new routine, suggested by their doctor, before the birth of their first child. They were holding hands as they neared Bayless Street.

Then, according to Sgt. Shane Carringer of the Anaheim Police Department, a white Jeep driven by a woman suspected of driving under the influence of an illegal substance, jumped the curb and struck her, Carringer said.

Yesenia Aguilar was 35 weeks pregnant.

Anaheim paramedics rushed Aguilar to UCI Medical Center. There, doctors performed an emergency cesarean section to deliver the baby, he said.

Aguilar was pronounced deceased at the hospital. Their newborn baby girl was admitted in critical condition to UCI's neonatal intensive care unit, according to Carringer.

The child is all that he has left of his wife, Alvarez told media. He named their baby Adalyn Rose, according to a GoFundMe established for the family.

That fundraiser, which raised over $119,000 in two days, was halted by the organizers for unknown reasons.

After two years of trying to start their family, they were just a month away from her birth, Alvarez told reporters.

"Finally we’re blessed to have a beautiful princess,” Alvarez told KTLA reporters. “And all of a sudden,out of a second, my life changed.”

According to court records, this was the third DUI related offense for Courtney Fritz Pandolfi, the driver of the white Jeep.

She was charged with a felony count of driving under the influence of a drug, causing injury, and a misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended or revoked license due to a DUI.

Pandolfi was sent to UCI Medical Center to treat minor injuries before her arrest on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, DUI, and driving on a suspended license, Carringer said.

Carringer said Pandolfi's prior DUI arrests include drug cases in both 2014 and 2012, but the charges have since been dismissed.

Any witnesses were asked to call Anaheim police at 714-765-1474.