Front Row Seat

Front Row Seat
Fireworks tonight at 9:45 on TV-4

°

Homepage / Jacksonville News
Text Size

Fifth Person Dies After 70-Car Pileup On I-4

Smoke Closes Same Stretch Of Highway Tuesday Morning

POSTED: Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A fifth person has died in connection with last week's fatal 70-car pileup on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa.

Adrian Gomez, one of the seven members of the Gomez family, was serious injured in the crash and was not able to overcome his injuries, WKMG-TV reported Tuesday.

Gomez's family said they want answers in the crash.

"There has to be justice," a family member said Monday night. "It is hard to lose someone you love and worse when you get alone with your family."

Gomez was a father of four children.

Victims Identified

Meanwhile, the Medical Examiner's Office positively identified the four people who died at the crash scene last week.

The dead were identified Monday as Scott Snyder, Michael Fricke Jr., Jorge Fundora and Joseph Noel.

Identification of the bodies was delayed because all were badly burned.

The 35-year-old Snyder was an employee of Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom. The 34-year-old Fricke was a beverage truck driver from Clair Mel City. The hometowns of Fundora and Noel have not been released.

The crashes on the stretch of I-4 in Polk County were blamed on fog mingling with smoke from a brush fire that reduced visibility to nearly zero.

Snyder, who was a newlywed, was traveling from Lakeland to Disney to get to his 6 a.m. shift when he was killed.

"He was a delight to us and there is going to be a big hole in our lives," the victim's mother-in-law, Mary Ussery, said. "He was the kind of person who made your face light up."

Ussery said she broke the news of Snyder's death to her daughter.

"It was one of the worst things I've ever had to say to her," Ussery said. "I feel he is in heaven right now with God and looking down and probably trying to comfort his wife and wipe some of her tears away."

Officials said 38 others were injured in the pileup.

Smoke Closes I-4 Again

Early Tuesday, a 7-mile stretch of Interstate 4 was closed in the same area of last week's 70-car pileup.

The Florida Highway Patrol said officers closed the westbound and eastbound lanes of the interstate from U.S. 27 to county Road 557.

A trooper said visibility on the roadway Tuesday was cut to about several hundred feet, so conditions were not nearly as bad as last week, WKMG reported.

Traffic was being detoured at U.S. 27.

Sponsored Links

Links We Like

Sponsored Content
There is no absolute number of drinks per day that defines alcoholism. Learn the behavior and body reactions that constitute alcoholism. More

By designing a great outdoor living space you can quickly enhance the value of your home and make it more appealing to potential buyers. More

If you have aspirations of becoming a millionaire, check out these five habits that may be worth emulating. More

The signs of Cancer can sometimes be very subtle. Here's a guide to help you recognize them early. More

Most Popular