Family and Friends Raise Funds for Brothers Killed in Pasadena Car Crash

A friend of the family of two brothers who died in a car crash in Pasadena Wednesday has started a GoFundMe.com campaign to raise funds for funeral expenses.

The brothers, identified as Reynaldo Chilel, 23, and Adelson Chilel Lopez, were killed when the maroon Mustang they were riding in collided with Kia Sorrento near the corner of Lake Avenue and Villa Street about 7 a.m. Wednesday, March 30.

Pasadena Police Lt. Mark Goodman said the Kia’s driver apparently failed to see the approaching Mustang going southbound on Lake, causing the collision. A secondary collision occurred when the Mustang slammed into a light pole at the southwest corner of the intersection and was torn nearly in half.

Lopez died at the scene and Chilel, who was driving, was later pronounced dead at Huntington Memorial Hospital. Two other men in the car were seriously injured.

Ganby Villarruel, a friend of the victims’ sister, said she was asked by the family to put up a GoFundMe page to raise funds, saying the family plans to transport the bodies to Guatemala where their families lived.

Villarruel said Reynaldo is the father with his wife of a 3-year-old son in Guatemala. Adelson is said to be supporting a 15-year-old sister who also is in Guatemala.

“Their sister didn’t know that much about the internet and didn’t speak much English,” Villarruel said. “So she told me, ‘I want you to badly create a page.’ ”

Family and friends are also holding a car wash next Saturday, April 9 at Carl’s Jr., 790 N. Lake Avenue in Pasadena at 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m . Villarruel said she will be posting updates on her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/gabby.villarruel.9, as well as on the GoFundMe page, www.gofundme.com/czwwe7jx.

The family is targeting $5,000 for the funeral expenses and has so collected over $550 as of Saturday morning.