An illegal street race Wednesday night in Eagle Rock killed three people, including a woman believed to be pregnant and her teenage sister, after their car slammed into a tree and burst into flames, police said.

A 19-year-old man who was driving a Mitsubishi involved in the crash was in custody this morning, Los Angeles police Officer Kate Lopez said today. He was uninjured.

A police spokeswoman said earlier that the man had been booked on suspicion of murder. But police now say he is still being interviewed.

Police are still searching for another driver they believe was involved in street racing but who fled after the crash, Lopez said.

The two female victims killed were identified as sisters, Cristyn Nicole Cordova, 19, and Toni Marie Cordova, 16, both of whom lived in Eagle Rock, said Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Police earlier incorrectly gave the ages of the female victims as 23 and 12. The coroner's office confirmed their ages as 19 as 16.


The identity of the male victim, who is from Los Angeles, was not released pending notification of next of kin, Winter said.

The crash occurred at Highland View Avenue and Colorado Boulevard about 10:30 p.m. A witness said he saw the Mitsubishi hit a Nissan Maxima, which police believe also was involved in racing. The Nissan, with five people inside, then slammed into a tree on Colorado Boulevard's median and caught fire, Lopez said.

Three men who were ejected from the Nissan landed in the street: a 19-year-old man, who died at the scene; a man whose hand and leg were severed, and another man whose leg was severed at the hip.The two survivors were taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and are listed in critical condition, said LAPD Officer April Harding, another department spokeswoman.

Inside the Nissan, one female victim was found in the back seat, while another, who was believed to be pregnant, was found dead in the driver's seat, Harding said.

Winter said the autopsy on the three victims would be conducted in the next couple of days. He could not confirm whether either of the female victims was pregnant, even though friends of Cristyn said she was expected to give birth next month.

"Police said they thought one of them was pregnant," Winter said, "but I have no confirmation."

Colorado Boulevard was closed for about eight hours and officers were still on the scene as morning traffic rolled over glass and plastic parts from the cars. The tree that the Nissan hit had blood and scraped bark left on it, and the car looked like a crushed soda can as it was towed away.

John Chavez, 38, who lives nearby, said he heard a "loud thump" about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, went outside and saw "blood and debris everywhere." He saw a "torso" in the middle of the street, another person on the pavement screaming for help, and a woman stuck in the twisted wreckage.

"It was the worst accident I've ever seen," Chavez said. "It was carnage."

Daniel Gutierrez, 54, a homeless man who was sleeping a block up the street, said he awoke when he heard "a boom, like an explosion" as the Mitsubishi hit the Nissan. The Nissan careened out of control, fishtailing in the street and hitting the tree, where it exploded in flames, he said.

"I went over there, but it was too late," Gutierrez said.

The Mitsubishi drove farther up the street, made a U-turn around the center divider and stopped nearby, he said. Someone got out to help, but it was too late, he said.

Martha Emery, 50, who lives behind a gas station on Highland View Avenue, was going to bed when she heard a huge crash, the sound of an explosion and skidding. She ran out of her home and saw the Mitsubishi driving in the wrong direction slowly down the south sidewalk, where it hit a lamp post before it came to a stop.

"Some car was wrapped around the tree," Emery said. "As I approached it on the street, there was a body motionless. I knew he was dead."

She saw the severed body of a man. A woman, whom she didn't initially see, was crumpled in what looked to be a "pile of rubble." And then she heard moaning.

"I didn't want to get that close, but I saw there were some legs left in the car and I looked, and the other half of them was on the street."

Her 9-year-old daughter, Dakota Emery, had run out of the house behind her, and went back to get her dad, Frank Emery, 61.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and, using special equipment, cut loose the woman and girl inside the Nissan.

The names of the individuals were not immediately released. Police believe that the cars were street racing and that a third car involved had fled the scene.

"We're hoping to get additional witnesses to provide information on this whole incident," Lopez said.


According to state figures, nearly 100 people die each year in California as a result of illegal street racing.

Neighbors said drivers often speed or street race on the heavily traveled stretch of Colorado Boulevard between the Glendale and Ventura freeways. Drivers on the Ventura Freeway funnel onto the boulevard, which runs parallel and has long wide lanes.

Mike Flores, 60, who recently moved from the neighborhood to South Pasadena, said he's seen at least four high-speed accidents on this stretch of Colorado Boulevard.

"It's known for speeders and accidents," Flores said. "In the two years I was there, all you could hear is all these cars flying by and brakes screeching. And every once in a while one of them would lose control and just pile into each other."

Flores, a maintenance worker on the Metro Gold Line commuter train, said he got off his graveyard shift at 6:30 a.m. and immediately went to the accident scene after seeing a television news report.

As he approached the tree struck by the car, he saw what he thought was red paint splattered on the trunk. It turned out to be blood.

"What a waste of life," he said.

Flores said it was fortunate that no bystanders were hit on the busy thoroughfare, which is home to a number of popular restaurants.

Steve Leonard, 37, who has lived on Highland View Avenue for nearly nine years, said he heard someone screaming "Why?!" last night. He stepped outside to see the accident, but he didn't get very close.

Leonard said he's seen two or three accidents on Colorado Boulevard that he believes stemmed from street racing. He said he often hears the rumble of engines or sees "tricked-out" cars driving by very fast on the street, especially on weekends or late at night.

"You can get moving down Colorado pretty fast," he said. "There's not a lot of cross traffic, and you could blow a red light and get going . . . there's a lot of whipping down the street."

Riverside Police Sgt. Skip Showalter, who is a member of the statewide street racing task force, said the group met Wednesday in Sacramento for its quarterly meeting with regional coordinators.

"We just got done talking about how we hadn't had a fatality in a while," Showalter said. "I think it's sad this happened . . . not more than six hours later. It's terrible."

Over the last three years, Showalter said he has worked with officers from the Ontario and Irwindale police departments, training more than 2,000 officers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties to spot illegal modifications on cars, which is one of the main ways officers target street racers.

Statewide more than 10,000 vehicles have been sent to the Bureau of Automotive referees for illegal modifications in the last 12 months, compared with less than 1,000 three years earlier, said Chris Cochran, spokesman with the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Those who engage in street racing risk a misdemeanor charge, five days in jail and car impoundment. If the race causes death or injury, penalties are much higher, and racers can be charged with second-degree murder or gross vehicular manslaughter.

In 2007, there were 1,299 convictions for illegal speed contests and 4,338 convictions for the "exhibition of speed," according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"It's a horrible thing, but we're trying to get the message out that street racing does kill people," Showalter said. "That's what we're ultimately hoping to do, and get people to think about others.

"You've got street racers who enjoy the thrill of all these dangerous twists and turns in the road, and also the thrill of not getting caught by police," he said. "It's not like a video game, it's reality . . . and unfortunately, when you street race in the real world, people get killed."

Anyone with information about the Eagle Rock crash is requested to call (877) LAWFULL.

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