Witnesses Help Save Boy After Mom, Brothers Killed in Crash

Iraqi war vet loses wife, 2 sons
By Lilla Ross,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 5, 2017 6:21 PM CST
Vet Loses Wife, 2 Sons in Crash—but Another Son Lives
Steven Abbott, brother-in-law of Christina Estrada, embraces the great-grandmother of Estrada's children.   (James Quigg, Daily Press/The Daily Press via AP)

A California family's grief deepened Saturday after divers called off the search for 2-year-old Noah Abbott, who has been missing since Thursday when the car his mother was driving crashed into an aqueduct, the Mercury News reports. The bodies of Christina Estrada, 31, and another son, Jeremiah, 3, were previously recovered, but Noah remains missing and presumed dead. The family's attention now turns to the lone survivor, Elijah Estrada, 10, who was released from a hospital over the weekend. He had been ejected from the red Volkswagen convertible, and witnesses say they helped pull him from the water, where he had been holding on to flotation buoys. Elijah's uncle, Steven Abbott, tells the Victorville Daily Press that the boy is doing well and appears to be in good health.

Relatives kept a vigil at the aqueduct in Hesperia amid a makeshift memorial of candles, flowers, and stuffed animals as police searched for Noah in the water and by air. Authorities ended the search because of unsafe conditions from a strong current and poor visibility. Two GoFundMe accounts (here and here) have been set up to help Kevin Abbott, the husband and father, pay funeral expenses. Abbott, an Iraq War veteran who was not in the car, is "having a hard time right now," says a cousin. "He's been put in a position where he's now a single father, so we're looking for any support we can get." The car crashed through a fence and into water about 6:40pm Thursday, and the cause is under investigation. It was fully submerged when found. (More car accident stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X