Friends, neighbors grieve ‘really great people’ killed, injured in Modesto house fire
Mourners easily numbering in the hundreds gathered Wednesday night at a southwest Modesto home where a mother and her teen son died in a fire that morning. She had escaped the fire but gone back into the home when she didn’t find the newly turned 18-year-old outside, witnesses said.
Three other family members who were taken by ground and air ambulance for treatment of injuries are expected to fully recover, according to the Modesto Police Department. Authorities have not said if they have determined the cause of the fire.
Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, the crowd packed the southwest end of El Sereno Street and spilled over to St. Salazar Circle and the edge of St. Salazar Park. The revving of motorcycle and car engines by young men seemingly honored the 18-year-old victim, a popular youth who was known by friends and neighbors for his work detailing cars.
A group of young men played mariachi music on the sidewalk before a steadily growing memorial of flower bouquets, prayer candles and balloons tied to police tape. “God gives you life and he can take it away,” they sang in Spanish. “They say life is short, perhaps that’s true.” As they performed, other young men on horseback on the street had their horses dancing to the music.
“Our Father” and other Catholic prayers were said for the family of five, which has not been publicly named by police or fire officials. Friends and family say the two who died were Maria Elena, or Malena, Cabrera and 18-year-old son Marcos García. The three who were taken to hospitals are Cabrera’s husband, Joel Garcia, and their younger children, Alejandro and Naftaly, ages 11 and 7.
Many of the young people were friends or acquaintances of Marcos’. Though he’s not been officially identified, Modesto City School records show that a student by that name and living at the El Sereno address was a new graduate of Elliott Alternative Education Center.
Gesturing to the throng around him, Danny Diaz-DeLeon said, “As you can see, a lot of people really cared about this guy.” The two young men got to know each other when Diaz-DeLeon moved into the area about a year ago. “He was personally a good friend of mine and it’s sad to accept the loss.” He called Marcos a ”really cool guy, really humble person.”
A next-door neighbor, Jessica Montiel, said her family, too, has been in the neighborhood only about a year but knows the Garcia-Cabrera family as “really, really great people” and hard workers. Marcos detailed her family’s cars a few times, she said, and Cabrera often would sell ice cream and shaved ice across the street at St. Salazar Park.
“Everyone around here knew her,” Monteil said, adding that she’d seen Cabrera just the night before, and Marcos earlier Tuesday, never imagining it would be the last time. “I went to go get the mail and we just said hi, and that was it. I never thought this would happen.”
Marcos would help his mother sell shaved ice and other goodies. She was known in the neighborhood for having the best goodies and for looking after the kids in the park as she pushed her cart, residents said. They added that she was a great cook and baker.
“All the people that you see, they know her from the park,” said neighbor Yvonne Chavez.
Accounts from the deadly morning
Others gathered at the vigil shared accounts of what they’d seen, done or heard the morning of the fire.
Neighbors said that shortly after the home burst into flames, Joel Garcia arrived. He’d been tending his horses at his nearby ranch when he learned of the fire.
Garcia rushed into the home to get his kids, but the younger two ended up escaping from the side gate, said neighbor Martha Padilla, who assisted them. Their mom, Cabrera, then took the kids to the northwest corner of El Sereno Street, where they stood in shock, Padilla recalled. “The kids’ faces, I can’t get it out of my mind,” she said.
Not seeing Marcos outside, Cabrera went back into the home, said neighbor Erica Morales. She would not emerge again.
Morales said Garcia went into the house again, to try to get his wife and Marcos. The neighbor said she spoke over the phone later Wednesday with Garcia, who said he spotted his wife and immediately realized it was too late to save her.
Of her role in helping the younger children, Padilla said she was on her morning walk about 15 minutes earlier than usual when she saw the fire and heard Cabrera screaming before she initially got out.
Padilla quickly called 911 and approached the home as she heard windows breaking. She said she could see the younger kids trying to break the front windows to escape after they told her they weren’t able to open the front door. That’s when she helped them escape from the side of the house.
Neighbors said the couple are originally from Mexico, but moved to Modesto from San Jose about a decade ago.
On a gofundme page set up to help with funeral costs and medical bills, family member Citlalli Burgara said Alejandro and Naftaly, or Natalie as it’s been written in some cases, were airlifted to a children’s hospital to treat their burns, “but they are doing fine.” Garcia, she said, was “severely burned when rescuing his kids from the home. “
Burgara wrote, “Their community remembers her for being hardworking and selling snacks and delicious goodies ... at their local park. While her son was just starting his life and building himself a business of car detailing. “
A car wash will be held in the neighborhood Saturday to help the family pay for funeral expenses. “We’re all going to help,” Diana Bonilla said of herself and other neighbors.
At least three gofundme pages have been started to help the family. They are titled “The Garcia Family,” “Malena Cabrera y Marcos García” and “Help for Malena Cabrera’s family.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 2:10 PM.
