Not even a week before a fatal semi-truck crash took the life of three family members on Thursday, two of them had just married.
Ruben Rodriguez, 33, Juliana Rodriguez Plata, 37, and Plata's mother, Luz Melba Martinez were killed following a crash on Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge around 8:30 a.m. Thursday in which an eastbound semi-truck crashed near Ward Road and spilled its load of pipes onto the westbound lanes of the highway.
The pipes went on to hit several vehicles, including the family. The three were killed, while Plata's father, Carlos Joaquin Plata, and Plata and Rodriguez's 1-year-old son, Daniel "Danny," were injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
The two survivors were taken to a hospital for treatment and have since been released, according to the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Plata and Rodriguez had just been married on Saturday, according to a GoFundMe started for the family. The parents had been in town from Colombia to celebrate the marriage.
"Now, Carlos is faced with the unimaginable pain of losing both his daughter and wife in such a short span of time," Janell Rodriguez, Ruben Rodriguez's sister-in-law and creator of the GoFundMe, said in the post.
The fundraiser has raised over $8,000 in under a day.
The family was on the way to the mountains for a honeymoon vacation when the crash happened, Rodriguez told KMGH-TV.
The family is still reeling.
“And then the baby without both of his parents, you know? It’s hard. It’s hard for the family. So we’re just gathered here right now just trying to be strong together,” Rodriguez said.
Investigations on why the truck rolled over are still ongoing, according to Wheat Ridge Police Department. The driver was also taken to the hospital for treatment.
Seven vehicles, including the truck, were involved in the crash, the department said on Friday. The debris field covered more than two football fields across both sides of the interstate, which included nearly 100 tubes weighing around 500 pounds each.
The department is working with the First Judicial District Attorney's Office on potential charges and said the investigation will take weeks to complete.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
