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Caring, tears spill forth at shrines

Strangers, moms, friends leave symbols of comfort for victims of fatal crash

By Bill Gallo, Special to the Rocky

Published September 10, 2008 at 4:55 p.m.
Updated September 11, 2008 at 2:13 a.m.

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A teddy bear hangs from a tree near where 3-year-old Marten Kudlis was buried.

Photo by Javier Manzano / The Rocky

A teddy bear hangs from a tree near where 3-year-old Marten Kudlis was buried.

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Dana Persaud stopped by the boarded-up Baskin-Robbins early Wednesday afternoon with her 4-year-old daughter, Nikki. The mother was somber, the child wide-eyed and quizzical.

"Tell me again, Mom," Nikki said.

The mother answered: "A little boy died here when a bad man hit him with a car. See the flowers?"

The little girl, wearing white pedal-pushers, a pink T-shirt and monkey-print sneakers, turned her attention to the impromptu shrine that has sprouted and grown on the sidewalk in front of the store on Havana Street, just south of Mississippi Avenue.

It was here, a week ago, that an unlicensed, 23-year-old driver named Francis Hernandez allegedly slammed into a pickup truck, starting a grim chain reaction that took the lives of two women in the truck and 3-year-old Marten Kudlis, who had been sitting in the ice cream shop at a window table.

Since then, expressions of shock and sympathy have overwhelmed the busy Aurora corner. As Nikki Persaud's eyes scanned the site, she could see hundreds of brightly colored stuffed animals - lambs and teddy bears, dogs and bunnies and Mickey Mouse - laid carefully on the pavement.

She could see dozens of Latino votive candles, with their burning hearts. Also, a complete McDonald's Happy Meal, moldering now in its red-and-white cartons, and an unopened bag of Skittles.

On Wednesday, visitors of all ages came and went, hands stuffed into pockets, faces blank. No one said much. Some shook their heads and cried as they placed new tributes at the shrine.

Nikki's mother gazed at a note left by the Rivera family: "We were so sorry to hear about your loss! With three small babies of our own, it broke our hearts. You are in our hearts and prayers. Love, Leo, Katie, Gloria, Gus and Tony."

At the south end of the site, there's a photograph of 49-year-old Patricia Guntharp, driver of the pickup truck, and a table piled with candles, flowers and sympathy notes. At the north end, a picture of another victim, 51-year-old Debra Serecky, and messages from her grieving friends. Sample: "The angels can hear you for a million miles. Love, Kara."

Everywhere at the site, last week's bouquets have dried and withered. Random red and pink rose petals have pasted onto gray pavement.

As merciless midday traffic roared by on Havana, little Nikki Persaud looked at four wobbly drawings of stick-figure children whose faces are covered in crocodile tears.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Nikki."

"Mom. Can I be the little boy's friend?"

There was a silence. "Yes," Dana Persaud answered. "I think he would like that."

Comments

  • September 11, 2008

    4:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ChristinaMcares writes:

    There are no words to describe my sadness for this little angel and his family. I attended the funeral and saw the emptiness in his parents eyes, their hearts are breaking and so is mine. God please take good care of this little one and help this family..