Missing daughter is identified as fire victim

DNA testing confirms Mexican father's fears

By Leslie Berestein

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 22, 2007

A father's trip to the border from Acapulco two weeks ago to learn the fate of his daughter, who vanished during the October wildfires, has not been in vain.

Late Thursday night, Concepción Peralta Ramírez received a call from the Mexican consulate at the San Diego home where he had been staying for the past week. The last four unidentified victims of the wildfires had finally been identified, and his missing daughter, Arely, her husband and a female friend were among them.

“I knew it was them,” a resigned Peralta, 54, said yesterday afternoon. “There was no other option.”

The four were being smuggled across the border when their group encountered the Harris fire. The three young friends were headed for Orange County, where Peralta and Santos had relatives, and Eugenio had her fiancee. Neither of the women had been to the United States before.

This is a tragedy that could easily have been avoided. I grieve for this father's loss.