The driver of an SUV the collided head-on with another car near Florence this week killing eight people, had a conviction for trafficking migrants, according to a news report that cites court records.
Meanwhile, four of the eight people killed Wednesday night have been identified, officials say.
A Chevy Suburban driving north on Arizona 79 just before 10 p.m. Wednesday was hit head-on by a Buick going the opposite direction, the state Department of Public Safety said in a news release Thursday morning. It's currently unknown why the Buick crashed into the Suburban.
Nine people were in the Suburban. Its driver and five passengers were killed, and the three other passengers are in the hospital with serious to life-threatening injuries.Β
The driver of the Suburban has been identified as 45-year-old Rodney Palimo from Sells. One of the passengers was identified as 43-year-old Kathleen Palimo, also from Sells.Β
Rodney Palimo pleaded guilty in March 2008 to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting an alien. He was initially charged with a felony count of transporting an illegal alien, the Associated Press is reporting.
His passenger Kathleen Palimo, 43, in 2004 pleaded guilty to a felony count of transportation of illegal aliens, the AP reports.
They were both killed in the crash that also left four Guatemalan men dead and three injured who had been in the SUV. None of them has been identified.
The driver and a passenger of the Buick were also killed, the release said. They were identified as 41-year-old Angel Meza and 33-year-old Nicole Vidal, both from Eloy.
