Mountainair buries crash victims

MOUNTAINAIR, N.M. (KRQE) - Hundreds of mourners turned out Monday to remember a Mountainair woman and her grandson killed in a crash blamed on a wanted felon fleeing police.

Flora Chavez, 78, and Christopher Chavez, 10, died Wednesday evening in the crash at a Mountainair intersection.

With estimated attendance exceeding 500 more than half the town turned out for the funeral. The Mountainair Elementary School closed so schoolmates could attend.

Friends and relatives of the Chavezes told KRQE News 13 the last several days have been difficult for the entire community.

"It really hits the very base of what we all are inside," Jerry Fleming said. "There is a lot of anger, there is a lot of pain, and it's really a time for healing more than anything else."

Christopher's classmates said he always had a smile on his face, was friendly to others and fun to see at recess. He also was described as loving basketball and having a talent for the sport.

Flora Chavez touched nearly every life the town in some way, according to friends. Whether she was cooking for others or just stopping by to say hello, she was known for her kindness and big heart.

She was retired from the Mountainair Public Schools summer lunch program and was a secretary at the Spanish Assembly of God Church.

"It's a loss, both of them," Stephen Bernal said. "One was barely growing up, getting his future together, and then a lady that inspired a lot of people."

The funeral lasted nearly three hours in the main chapel of the Mountainair Activity Center. Grandmother and child were buried in the Mountainair Cemetery.

Paul Sanchez, 31, faces two counts of vehicular homicide. He was wanted on a felony warrant issued in Arizona when the Mountainair police chief stopped his pickup truck on a town street Wednesday.

State investigators reported Sanchez fled from the chief and sped through a yield sign and three stop signs. At the last stop sign he broadsided the car driven by Flora Chavez.

New Mexico State Police reported the police chief had gotten a tip that Chavez was in town and wanted in Arizona.