Corvallis student, university worker among 4 dead

Four mid-valley residents, including a Corvallis High School student and an Oregon State University worker, were killed in a single-vehicle crash along Interstate 5 south of Orland, Calif.

One of the victims, 17-year-old Jessica Mojica of Albany, was a junior at CHS. The school is planning a memorial service.

A fund has been established to help the Mojicas with the costs of sending the victims’ bodies to Mexico for burial. Donations to the Mojica Family Fund can be made at the Bank of America in Corvallis.

Wednesday morning, friends had covered Jessica’s locker with balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, poems and other messages of farewell. She belonged to VELA, the Latino student service club.

“She definitely had a beautiful smile. I know that’s what I’ll miss, seeing her in hall, is that beautiful smile,” said Linda Alderman, CHS administrative assistant.

Jessica’s father, Jose M. Mojica, 39, of Albany also died in the accident, which happened early Sunday morning. He was a custodial employee who worked for Aramark and was assigned to OSU.

Jessica’s sister, Sandra Gonzalez Mojica, 21, of Salem, was the lone survivor of the accident. Sandra is a student at Chemeketa Community College.

Karin Krueger, an English language teacher at CHS, has known the Mojica family for years.

“Jessica was very special. She was a motivated student, taking classes to prepare her for a

four-year college — her hope was to go to college in San Jose and work towards the career of doctor or dentist,” Krueger wrote in an e-mail to the Albany Democrat-Herald. “She and older sister Sandra, who graduated from CHS last year, have showed incredible determination in working to help their family and yet remaining committed to school. Jessica had a ready, beautiful smile and CHS students and staff will miss her very much.”

Jessica is also survived by her mother, Maria, brother Edgar and sister Lupita, all of Albany.

Maria also is a custodial employee at OSU. Edgar is a fourth-grader and Lupita is a first-grader at Sunrise Elementary School, Principal Connie Larsen said.

The family moved from Corvallis to Albany about three years ago.

The vehicle in which Jessica and other members of her family were riding went off the northbound lanes of I-5 and became submerged in the Tehama Colusa Canal, according to the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office in California.

The water was about 50 degrees, and 15 to 18 feet deep, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sandra Gonzalez Mojica was able to get out of the water and finally reach an emergency phone box, calling the California Highway Patrol at 6:13 a.m.

She told investigators the car went into the water between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m., according to a report in the Sacramento Bee. She said she tried in vain to rescue the others, even making her way back to the highway several times. However, passing motorists apparently ignored her pleas for help.

Emergency responders later found Jessica in the water. She was pronounced dead at the scene. She was the driver of the vehicle.

Also found in the water was Adrian Soto, Gonzalez Mojica’s 3-year-old son. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Several hours later, divers located Gonzalez Mojica’s boyfriend, Jorge Alejandro Villalobos, 23, of Salem, and her father, Jose.

The family was returning to the mid-valley after picking up Adrian, who had been visiting his father in the Los Angeles area, according to the sheriff’s office.

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