07.17.2004 - 7:59 pm
this family lived at the end of my street. i would try to talk to the children, but they would never say hello back. they drove a pink barbie jeep up and down the sidewalk and fed their bunny on the grass. now there is death everywhere, the street is quiet except for the sounds of people crying out on the sidewalk. we walk on the other side of the street, we don't want to intrude.
5 PDX family members killed, 3 hurt in rollover crash
11:25 PM PDT on Friday, July 16, 2004
By KGW, NBC and AP Staff
WILLIAMS, Calif. -- A Portland couple and three of their daughters were killed on a family vacation trip when their sports utility vehicle rolled over and crashed along Interstate 5 in Colusa County, Calif. early Friday, authorities said.
Investigators examine the wreckage of the crash north of Sacramento on Interstate 5. (KGW Photo)
Three other children in the family were critically injured in the accident.
The deceased were identified as 40-year old George Stanescu, who was driving the SUV, and his wife, 30-year old Daniela Dorena Stanescu. Two of their daughters were pronounced dead at the scene: 10-year old Miriam and 8-year old Tabetha. A third daughter, 6-year old Jessica, died later at an area hospital.
The crash occured about 3 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the freeway near the Maxwell rest area, about 60 miles north of Sacramento, the California Highway Patrol said.
The Stanescu family of Portland pictured standing in front of their SUV, which rolled over on I-5. (KGW Photo)
Police said George Stanescu lost control of his Chevy Suburban after apparently falling asleep at the wheel, causing the vehicle to roll several times and ejecting the passengers.
None of the eight family members in the SUV was wearing seat belts, said CHP Sgt. Phil Reneck.
Three Stanescu children survived the crash: 11-year-old Emanuela was in a coma and on life support, while her brothers David and Johnny, ages 5 and 2, were expected to recover.
The survivng children were being treated at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and Enloe Hospital in Chico.
The pastor of the family's church, Philadelphia Romanian Pentecostal in southeast Portland, said the couple had seven children, but the youngest son -- 3-month old Daniel-- stayed home with his grandmother while the rest of the family went on vacation.
The Stanescus were members of the city of Portland's growing Romanian community.
Pastor Nicky Pop said the couple was originally from from the western Romanian county of Arad, near the Hungarian border -- but fled some years ago, immigrating to the U.S. to escape Romania's oppressive regime at the time.
"It's one of the worst tragedies the community here has faced," said Pop, speaking in Romanian. "The grandmother was at the end of her wits -- I tried to calm her down."
"She's waiting for the bodies to be transported back from California. Obviously, she's now all alone looking after the baby," he said.
The grandmother is now the only surviving adult of the Stanescu family living in America, Pop said.
Lidia Laurovici, a Portland resident who also immigrated from Arad, bought the Stanescus former home in 2001, when they put it on the market.
She remembers the little girls as "dulce," the Romanian word for sweet. "There's not a bad thing that anyone could say about them," Laurovici said in Romanian.
