For Burnsville family, driver's flight from police took a terrible toll

A Burnsville woman was killed Monday night when a driver crashed into her vehicle while fleeing police. That high-speed chase had begun after a hit-and-run accident miles away.

The intersection of County Road 5 and 131st Street in Burnsville is still littered with shards of glass and metal from the crash. And just two houses down is where the Ocampo family lives in a four-bedroom home.

Sitting at the kitchen Wednesday, Adrianna Macias said Leticia Ocampo had been her best friend.

"Leticia — or Leti, how we all knew her — she was a very happy person, very friendly, a very good mom, and she always cared for others," Macias said. "She cared a lot for her family back in Honduras, and for everybody here."

As Macias spoke, two of Ocampo's five children sat at the table, quietly eating slices of pizza. They said they would miss their mom's traditional Mexican corn soup.

Ocampo's husband, Octavio Iñiguez, was born in Mexico. She was born in La Ceiba, a city along Honduras' northern coast, known for its beautiful beaches and nearby national parks. Adrianna Macias described Ocampo, 39, as a woman full of life who loved the outdoors, the trails and camping.

"Oh it was fun! I think she was the only one that did not complain about the camping experience," Macias said. "She enjoyed being out there, sitting by the bonfire, talking, and hiking. She was the one who always kept up the pace."

While a TV played in the background, 13-year-old Cinthia Guzman-Ocampo smiled, thinking back to the family's recent trip to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin.

"We went up by a waterfall, we stayed there for a little bit, and then we went to eat ice cream," Cinthia recalled. She said her mother was fun, joyful and physically affectionate.

"When I'd get home from school, I'd have to say, like, bendicion, like blessings, and then we'd like kiss on the cheek," she said. "And then before I went to bed, we would kiss on each cheek, and then the forehead, and then hug."

"I will miss coming home to her," she said. "And before I go to bed."

It was the same in the mornings, too, said Ocampo's oldest son, 14-year-old David Guzman-Ocampo.

"She would say, did you forget something?" he said. "And then we'd be like, 'Oh, good morning,' and give her a kiss."

Holding Ocampo's youngest child, one-year-old Lupita, Anna Ocampo said the loss of her sister has changed her life forever. The 36-year-old came to Minnesota from Maryland only a week ago.

"For the past week, I've been here with them," she said through a translator. "And now my sister has left us, and I'm the sister that's closest, and I have to take care of them with their dad. And it's very difficult. Very difficult."

She doesn't know how to get counseling for the kids, and is trying to help raise funds to take Ocampo's body back to Honduras. That's where her mother lives, with Ocampo's oldest daughter.

Across the street, neighbor Chuck Mattingly was in his kitchen when he heard the accident, which also killed the driver, Matthew John Vogel, 22, who had been fleeing police. He says it's a heartbreaking loss for the five children.

"The father, or whoever is taking care of them, they've got a terrible job on their hands," he said. "It never gets any easier for the people that are alive."

Funeral arrangements are pending, and expected to be held at the South St. Paul Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church.