A 19-year-old Mission man received a 35-year sentence for leading police on a chase while smuggling people in the country illegally, a chase that ended in a crash that killed a mother and daughter.
Esteban Cantu Jr. pleaded guilty to two counts of murder on Feb. 6 for causing the late morning crash on Dec. 11, 2021, that killed 59-year-old Carmen Huerta Sosa and her daughter, 22-year-old Viridiana Charon Lloyd, both of Mission.
In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of murder, prosecutors moved to dismiss two counts of evading arrest or detention causing death and six counts of smuggling of persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death, which state District Judge Letty Lopez granted.
The fatal series of events began just before noon that day after Border Patrol authorities requested assistance from the Mission Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety while chasing a gray 2009 Ford Escape.
According to a news release from Mission police, that agency’s officers stopped chasing the vehicle, but Border Patrol and DPS troopers continued to pursue it as the chase headed north on Conway Avenue.
The fatal crash happened after Cantu turned left on 2 Mile Line Road.
“Upon reaching the intersection of West 2 Mile Line and Holland Road, the suspect vehicle proceeded to enter the intersection failing to yield the right away to a brown in color 2014 Honda passenger car,” the release stated.
At the time of the crash, Cantu was transporting six people in the country illegally, including three minors. They were all transported to the hospital for treatment.
Cantu, who received credit for a little more than a year he spent in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center, has not yet been transported to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
