4 dead, including 1-year-old, identified in head-on crash north of Modesto

DEL RIO – Four people, including a 1-year-old girl, died in a four-vehicle crash north of Modesto, authorities said Tuesday evening.

The crash happened just after 4 p.m. on McHenry Avenue at Hogue Road in the small community of Del Rio, the Modesto Division of the California Highway Patrol said.

Two vehicles were involved in a head-on collision after the driver of one of them crossed into the oncoming lane for unknown reasons.

The vehicle that went into the wrong lane was a Mitsubishi sedan. The driver was a 19-year-old woman from Merced. A 22-year-old man from Merced was in the passenger seat. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The other vehicle was a Toyota SUV. The driver was a 60-year-old woman from Linden. She had a one-year-old baby in the vehicle. Both died in nearby hospitals.

Two other vehicles collided with the Mitsubishi and the Toyota. The occupants of these vehicles were uninjured.

The accident was initially reported as a hit-and-run by the CHP before details of the head-on collision were released.

On Wednesday, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office identified the four people killed as: 60-year-old Turlock resident Patricia Lopez, 20-month-old Turlock resident Clara Howells, 19-year-old Merced resident Angeles Escoto and 23-year-old old Merced resident Francis Catano.