A Seattle man and his fiancee were in critical condition in a Puerto Rican hospital Monday after the man’s uncle threw gasoline or kerosene on a family gathering and lit the party afire on New Year’s Day.
Just weeks after they became engaged, Kate Donahue, 25, had traveled to Puerto Rico with Jesus Sanchez Vazquez, who is in his late 20s, to get to know his family in Florida, Puerto Rico.
They have burns on 80 percent of their bodies, Dr. Ernesto Torres told the Puerto Rican publication El Nuevo Dia.
Sanchez Vazquez’s uncle, Justino Sanchez Diaz, 45, threw an accelerant onto members of his family, then used a tank containing 20 pounds of propane gas as a torch to set them afire, El Nuevo Dia said. Two people died and several others were injured.
In the hospital, Donahue, a licensed practical nurse for Group Health, and Sanchez Vazquez, a Boeing engineer, kept asking about each other, according to Donahue’s aunt, Dianna Lee.
“I think it’s the love that they have for each other that’s going to get them through this,” Lee said.
The two people fatally injured were Sanchez Vazquez’s sister, Pamela Sanchez Diaz, 17, and Samuel Molina Sanchez, a cousin of the attacker. Justino’s mother, Josefina Diaz, 86, is in critical condition, according to El Nuevo Dia.
The family had gathered to celebrate Molina Sanchez’s 32nd birthday, according to Primerahora.com, another Puerto Rican news source.
“I see my husband crawling, all burned, and I think to scream, ‘Oh my God, what a nightmare is this, run, run, run,’ ” Molina Sanchez’s wife, Glorimar de Jesus, told Primerahora.com.
Justino Sanchez Diaz was arrested Sunday and held on $1.5 million bail in the death of Molina Sanchez. A second murder charge was filed Monday, Primerahora.com reported. There are also rumors that the suspect has a history of mental illness.
“There is no reason. He got there and did what he did. Among the family, this is what we think,” de Jesus told Primerahora.com.
Donahue’s maternal grandmother, Patricia Hall, said she was “absolutely horrified” when she heard about the attack.
What had happened wasn’t immediately clear. All Donahue’s family knew was that there had been an accident and she was burned. Initially they thought there might have been a car accident.
“It was just many hours of blur and phone calls and computers and everyone trying to piece this information with this information and trying to get my daughter 1/8Michelle Donahue3/8 to Puerto Rico,” Hall said.
Lee was able to contact one of Jesus Sanchez Vazquez’s aunts via Facebook; the aunt related what happened as best she could in a five-minute phone call with broken English.
“Jesus has a lovely community in Puerto Rico that’s being very supportive of 1/8my family3/8 … and keeping people up to date as much as possible,” Lee said.
Donahue is not in stable enough condition to be moved from Puerto Rico, according to Patrice Moore, another of Donahue’s aunts. Her mother, father, brother and friends have flown there to be at her side, Hall said.
“My daughter has called me a couple of times,” Hall said of Donahue’s mother. “Of course she was very emotional, but she can let go with me while she’s trying to be strong there. She’s very, very upset and crying. I think she gets to go in to see her twice a day for 10 minutes. It’s just so surreal.”
Moore said Donahue and her fiance knew from the moment they met that they were soul mates.
Jesus had wanted to propose at Christmas, Moore said, but couldn’t stand to wait. He planned a surprise party for Donahue at their favorite restaurant, and there told her he had one more surprise. He got down on one knee and said he couldn’t imagine spending his life with anyone else.
“They’re such a lovely couple,” Lee said. “And they have so much ahead of them, you just can’t fathom what the next steps are going to be.”
Source:Seattle Times
