ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Police say an Albuquerque woman was ‘grossly intoxicated’ and admitted to drinking a 12-pack of beer before getting behind the wheel and killing an 18-year-old.
“She had a whole life ahead of her. She wanted to become a veterinarian, she was working at an animal clinic,” said Susan Saenz, the aunt of Roxana Saenz.
Saenz had just graduated from Del Norte High School when that deadly crash happened on Candelaria near Girard in June. At the time, police say they were waiting on toxicology results from the other driver now identified as 40-year-old Bernadette Etsitty because she was so drunk they could not perform field sobriety tests.
According to court documents, a blood draw revealed Etsitty’s blood alcohol at more than twice the legal limit. Officers say she told them she drank the 12-pack and had empty beer cans strewn around her car. They say she was going more than 60 mph in a 40 mph zone. Etsitty is charged with vehicular homicide by DWI.
