Mexican bridge deaths included DeSoto youth

by Daphne Brown of DeSoto TODAY

A Thanksgiving trip to visit relatives turned deadly for one area family.

A DeSoto couple buried their 7-year-old daughter, Kaylinn Ortiz, this week following a trip to Mexico that also left six other family members, all of Waxahachie, dead.

Friends of the couple have initiated a memorial fund to help with burial expenses.

Members in the first of two cars taken on the trip drove off of an unfinished bridge, according to Chris Huerta, a DeSoto police officer and friend of the family.

Mariana and Hubaldo Ortiz were part of a two-car caravan traveling to Mexico in the early hours of Thanksgiving Day.

“According to the Dad, it was about 2 a.m. and he and his wife were following the suburban that carried his daughter and wife's mother, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. They fell behind the suburban and didn't see the tail lights anymore,” Huerta said. “They realized there was no more bridge.”

Huerta said when the father and a nephew got out of the car they were traveling in, they saw the first vehicle on its roof in a body of water.

“He said they tried to get everyone out, but the vehicle was submerged and they didn't have anything sharp to cut seatbelts,” Huerta said. “It's a terrible thing to have to live through. The mother was pretty torn up, but she's doing better. The entire family is dealing with it as best they can.”

Huerta said the only person the men were able to rescue was the mother of the sister-in-law.

Mariana called Huerta Nov. 28 regarding the deaths.

Kaylinn was a second-grade student at Amber Terrace Elementary School. She was buried Dec. 2 at Holy Redeemer Cemetery in DeSoto.

The campus held its own memorial service for their classmate Dec. 3 in the gymnasium, according to Beth Trimble, the DeSoto Independent School District's director of communications. Students also released balloons in honor of Kaylinn, she said.

Huerta said the DeSoto Police Officer's Association has opened an account for the family to assist with funeral-related expenses.

Anyone interested in donating to the account may send checks or money orders payable to: DeSoto Police Association to benefit Kaylinn Ortiz. The address is DeSoto Police Association, P.O. Box 1243, DeSoto, Texas, 75115.