An image of carnage of I-25 crash scene (KDVR/screengrab) Jesus Puebla (inset left) in a Weld County mug shot, (inset right) victims Aaron Godinez, Halie Everts, and Tessleigh Godinez (GoFundme)
A trucker in Colorado was found guilty on Thursday of recklessly and carelessly driving his vehicle without a commercial driver’s license (CDL) on I-25, crashing into and killing five members of a family traveling home to Gillette, Wyoming, nearly two years ago.
Jesus Puebla, now 27, was convicted by jurors in Weld County of each and every charge among the 10 counts that the district attorney’s office announced in December 2022. The charges came down six months after 20-year-old Aaron Godinez, his 20-year-old fiancee Halie Everts, the couple’s 3-month-old daughter Tessleigh Godinez, and Aaron’s parents Emiliano and Christina Godinez, 51 and 47, were tragically killed in the crash.
Colorado Public Radio detailed that Puebla was illegally driving a box truck containing U.S. Postal Service mail when he rear-ended the victims and killed them, not long after the family had celebrated Aaron Godinez’s birthday. Local Fox affiliate KDVR reported that the defendant was driving the truck at 76 mph before he slammed into the victims’ 2015 Ford Edge, which was traveling anywhere from 6 to 10 mph.