Reality ‘difficult to face’ after crash kills mom’s 4 kids

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – The mother of a 33-year-old Florida woman who lost four of her five children in a crash on Interstate 95 says her daughter is “devastated” and “feels completely empty.”

The Florida Highway Patrol says the Saturday night crash in Palm Beach County was caused by a separated tire on Heidi Solis Perez’s minivan.

Crisanta Perez tells local media that her daughter initially thought she was being misled when family members told her that her children – ages 5, 7, 14 and 17 – died in the crash. Her live-in boyfriend and his 18-year-old cousin also died.

Solis Perez’s 11-year-old daughter survived the crash but remains in serious condition.

Crisanta Perez says the reality of what happened “is very difficult to face.”

The grandmother says the deaths have left “a very big hole” in the family.