UPDATE: This story was updated on June 10 to note that the defendant’s tests came back negative for drugs and alcohol and that his DWI charge will be dismissed.
A Salem County grand jury has indicted a Texas tractor-trailer driver who struck and killed two people on a New Jersey highway last year.
Eduardo E. Villasenor-Aguilar, 62, of El Paso, was driving his truck south on Interstate 295 in Carneys Point Township around 4 p.m. on May 30, 2020, when it veered onto the shoulder and hit the victims, who were working on a stopped car.
Desiree Pulliam, 29, of New Castle, Delaware, and Heber Barreiro-Lopez, 30, of Philadelphia, were pronounced dead at the scene. Villasenor-Aguilar told police he fell asleep at the wheel, and troopers reported that his speech was slurred and he failed field sobriety tests.
Villasenor-Aguilar was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated, but tests later revealed that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system, so the DWI charge will be dismissed, officials confirmed Thursday.The grand jury indicted him last week on two counts of second-degree death by auto.
He told investigators he began driving around 3 a.m. on the day of the crash, but could not recall what town or state he was in when he departed, Salem County Assistant Prosecutor David M. Galemba said during a detention hearing last year. He initially said he drove for 12 hours straight, but then became evasive in his answers and offered conflicting accounts of his travels, Galemba added.
Villasenor-Aguilar said he didn’t see the two cars stopped along the side of the road. One of the victims had apparently driven to the scene to help a friend.
“He stated that ‘Just for a second, I closed my eyes and when I opened my eyes I was on the cars,’” Galemba recounted. “He said he closed his eyes because he was tired.”
Villasenor-Aguilar described pushing himself to make a delivery on time, though his destination was not revealed to police, Galemba said. He was freed from jail pending trial, with the judge citing his age, health condition and the increased risk he faced for contracting COVID-19.
He is scheduled to return to court June 25 for a post-indictment arraignment.