At the corner of Lankershim and Chandler North boulevards in North Hollywood, outside the NoHo Metro station, a growing memorial with flowers, candles, photos and condolence notes pays tribute to the three street food vendors who were killed in a tragic accident Tuesday night.
A sign on the pole next to the memorial reads: “En memoria de las tres hermosas guerreras que seran inolvidables” (“In memory of the three beautiful warriors who will never be forgotten”).
Every day on her commute to and from work, between downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, Sara Pereira would see all three women hard at work. Teodora “Doris” Villalobos, 57, Maria Peck, 73, and a third unidentified victim sold coffee, pupusas, hot dogs, sweets, sodas and other items to commuters and passersby.
“I’d run into them in the morning and I’d buy a few things from them, and we would end up talking about this and that. And every afternoon I’d take home a cinnamon roll for my husband sold by one of the women,” Pereira told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol. “It’s really so sad what happened to them, because these women were always so friendly and working all the time.”
Another commuter, who declined to state her name, recalled seeing the women every time she went to the Metro station. She described their deaths as shocking, especially for area residents.
“Everyone around here saw them all the time,” said the woman, who lives in North Hollywood. “What happened to them is really terrible, really, really sad. May these people rest in peace.”
The fatal crash happened at about 5:55 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) arrested 61-year-old Ihor Demianenko of Valley Village in connection with the collision. He was driving a white Toyota Sienna minivan, which jumped the curb at Lankershim and Chandler North at high speed and plowed through the crowded sidewalk.
Two other women were injured in the crash and remain hospitalized: Sylvia Figueroa, who is in her 50s, who was reportedly helping one of the female vendors who was killed; and an unidentified woman, who authorities have not yet identified as a commuter, passerby or vendor.
Demianenko was booked on suspicion of three counts of murder and felony DUI and is being held on $6.03 million bail.
“I told my husband, ‘God knows what He’s doing,’ because sometimes, right about the time of the accident, I’d be heading to the elevator and one of the women would call out to me and ask, ‘You’re not going to get some sweet bread today?’ And I’d say, ‘Not today. I’m going on a diet.’ Then I’d pause and go back and ask for two or three,” Pereira recalled with a smile. Other times, she would sit at Villalobos’ food stand for a snack and conversation before heading home.
But on Tuesday, Pereira was told not to go to work. She believes fate may have saved her life.
“It’s so tragic. You just never know when something like this is going to happen,” she said.
Pereira described all three women as “very sweet,” especially Villalobos. If Pereira was ever short on cash to buy something, Villalobos would tell her not to worry or to pay her the next day.
“Sometimes I would see her [Villalobos] looking at a person lingering nearby, who looked homeless,” she recounted. “She would say, ‘Son, would you like something to eat?’ and she would give them something. She was always very generous and kind.”