Progreso woman who caused crash that killed 3 near Edcouch gets 14 years

A 28-year-old Progreso woman who drove into a semi, killing her three passengers, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison with credit for a little more than a year that she spent in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.

Stephanie Aracely Diaz pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of intoxication manslaughter for the deaths of Elias Galaves, 26, Gerardo Ibarra, 42, and Axel Jimenez, 22, all of Progreso.

The deadly crash happened on Jan. 25, 2023 at approximately 2:04 p.m.

The Texas Department of Public Safety at the time said a preliminary investigation revealed that a Peterbilt truck tractor-trailer driven by a man was going west, southwest on FM 1015 while a white Chevrolet Silverado, driven by Diaz, was traveling east, northeast on FM 1015.

“The driver of the Chevrolet failed to yield the right of way and turned left in front of the Peterbilt,” DPS previously said in a news release.

Diaz was taken to the hospital, but Galaves, Ibarra and Jimenez died at the scene.

The driver of the Peterbilt wasn’t injured, but was taken to the local hospital per his company’s procedures, the news release had said.

According to the indictment against Diaz, she was driving the Silverado while intoxicated with either “a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug or a combination of two or more substances.”