Identity of van driver determined in fatal bus crash (MN illegal)

U.S. immigration officials say today they've determined the identity of the 24-year-old woman who drove a van into a school bus, killing four children last week in southwestern Minnesota.

The driver has been identified as Olga Marina Franco and she's from Guatemala, according to Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Chicago.

Franco has been charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide stemming from the Feb. 19 crash near Cottonwood. Witnesses say she blew through a stop sign, jumped over some railroad tracks and hit the rear of the bus, which tipped over and collided with a pickup truck.

The woman initially said her name was Alianiss Nunez Morales, but ICE officials said she was using a fake name and was here illegally.

Immigration agents first interviewed Franco on Feb. 21. During that interview, she said she was from Mexico. Investigators ran her fingerprints through databases and found no matches, hinting that she had no prior contact with immigration officials.

ICE has placed a detainer on Franco, so that if she is released from the Lyon County jail in Marshall for any reason, she will be turned over to federal authorities and placed in deportation proceedings.

Brothers Remembered

By Rae Kruger

COTTONWOOD — Hunter Javens would have been 10 on the day of his funeral Monday at Lakeview School in Cottonwood. Hunter, along with his older brother, Jesse, 13, were killed along with Emilee Olson, 9, and Reed Stevens, 12, in a school bus crash Feb. 19 on Minnesota Highway 23 near the intersection with Lyon County Road 24.

Hunter’s twin sister, Sasha, did not die in the crash and was among roughly 1,400 people at the funeral. In recognition of Sasha, and in honor of Hunter and Jesse and their spirit, the Rev. Gloria Anderson asked those roughly 1,400 people to sing “Happy Birthday” to Sasha on Monday.

“I asked (myself), ‘what I can do today to be pleasing to Jesse and Hunter?’” Anderson said.

“Hunter would want (us) to celebrate his twin sister’s birthday,” Anderson said. “Jesse would want (us) to celebrate his little sister’s birthday.”

And so the people sang the birthday song in a service to remember the lives of two brothers.

The Javens brothers were killed Feb. 19 when a van hit a school bus driven by Dennis Devereaux on the side. The bus tipped and landed on a pickup driven by James Hancock, 45, of Marshall.

The Associated Press said Monday the van driver who authorities said gave them a fake name following the fatal bus crash has been identified as a 24-year-old woman from Guatemala, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Monday.

Olga Marina Franco Del Cid was the woman who officials allege ran a stop sign, hitting the bus, authorities said, the AP reported.

Franco had told authorities she was 23-year-old Alianiss Nunez Morales of Minneota and that she was from Mexico, the AP reported.

The woman was charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide Friday in Lyon County District Court.

Franco is the same or similar to the last name the woman gave in court on Friday as her aunt who lives in the Marshall area.

In days following the crash, families such as the Javenses and others have had questions, Anderson said during Monday’s funeral.

Many have asked why it happened and why the Javens boys and two other students had to die, Anderson said.

Anderson suggested several other questions the family and others could use during the coming days to help cope with the tragedy.

“We could ask why Jesse was so inquisitive,” Anderson said.

“We could ask why Hunter and Jesse were such gentlemen,” Anderson said

“Why are Hunter, Jesse and Sasha so close?”

Anderson acknowledged a gymnasium full of family and community members Monday and a filled gym on Sunday night for the prayer service and visitation.

Those folks are part of a loving family that will help care for and support the Javenses in the future, and they have shown how much they care in the days since Feb. 19, Anderson said.

Many who attended Monday’s funeral wore the Lakeview school colors of black and blue.

Various T-shirts proclaimed Lakers sports or school pride and were worn by students and adults. Even the grandmothers wore the Laker blue color.

Jesse’s teammates wore his team’s football jerseys and walked into the gym together, followed by Jesse’s coach, Ray Pederson, of Cottonwood.

Casketbearers for both Jesse and Hunter wore school colors or wrestling T-shirts. Both brothers were fans of professional wrestling.

In what may be a struggle the families are grappling with these days, Monday’s soloist sang two contrasting songs.

In “One More Day” the writer asks for just one more day and one more sunset with the one they’ve lost.

And in the other, the writer proclaims that “Soon and Very Soon” we will be in heaven with “no more crying there.”

The funeral service for Stevens will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Lakeview School.

Every politician and bureaucrat (city, county, state, and federal) that has been soft on illegal immigration is responsible for these senseless deaths!

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