State police ID four of five people killed in fiery interstate crash last month

Published 1:53 pm Wednesday, May 10, 2023

State police have identified four previously unidentified victims who died last month in a fiery crash on Interstate 59 in Alabama.

Alabama state troopers said five people were killed in the two-vehicle crash on the night of April 26.

Jimie M. Francisco, 32, of Crossville, Alabama, was fatally injured when his 2001 Chevrolet Malibu struck a 2009 Toyota Tundra pickup. The collision caused the Toyota to catch fire, but could not be identified without forensic assistance.

Troopers on Wednesday said the dead in the pickup included driver Nelson Loesa-Fernandez, 44, of Caledonia, Mississippi, along with passengers Cesar Arano-Rosales, 55, of Columbus, Mississippi, Norma A. Gonzalez-Garcia, 41, of Caledonia, and Yadira Loesa-Fernandez, 48, of Columbus.

The crash occurred on Interstate 59 northbound near the 182-mile marker, approximately 4 miles south of Attalla, in Etowah County.