Tucson family killed in crash in Mexico

A Tucson family was killed in a crash over the weekend in near Agua Prieta, Sonora and a man Mexico officials say caused the deadly three-vehicle crash has been jailed on charges of manslaughter, according to the Sonoran Attorney General’s office.

Jose Brito, his wife and their two daughters were traveling in a Dodge Ram near Feb. 17, when they were struck head-on by a black Chevrolet Avalanche after the driver drifted into the family's lane. Both vehicles were pushed into the path of a tractor trailer, an incident report said.

The driver of the Avalanche, Daniel Eduardo, 30, was arrested at the scene of the crash.

This week a judge ordered Eduardo be preventively detained until his case is decided, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said.

All four members of the Brito family in the Dodge were killed.

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The victims were: Jose Brito; his wife Yesenia Brito; Jazmin Tanco Brito, an eighth-grader at Utterback Middle School; and Liliana Brito, a fifth-grader at Holladay Elementary.

School and TUSD district officials have worked to “ensure that we provide every means of support and assistance to all the students, along with our staff,” Utterback Principal Taranika Sanders wrote in a letter to families. Holladay Principal Shakenya Humphries-Gholson sent a similar message to parents of her students.


A Gofundme effort had raised more than $49,000 by Friday to help bring the four bodies back to Tucson from Mexico and for funeral expenses. It says the Brito family was traveling to their ranch in Sonora when the crash occurred.