BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) - Family members are trying to raise money to return the body of a Minnesota mother of five, who was killed in a crash by a man fleeing police, to her native Honduras for burial.
The State Patrol said Aida Leticia Sevilla Ocampo, 39, of Burnsville, died Monday night when her SUV was struck by a van by Matthew Vogel, 22, of Bloomington. The chase began in Apple Valley when police spotted the van being driven aggressively and determined it had been involved in a hit-and-run crash earlier in Savage. Vogel also died in the crash.
Col. Matt Langer, chief of the State Patrol, said it appeared the squad cars were “quite a distance behind” Vogel’s van when it struck Ocampo’s SUV, causing it to flip. She died instantly.
Ocampo was on her way to work and only a short distance from her home when she was struck. Family friend Marcus Martinez told WCCO-TV that four of her children were at home when it happened.
“The children didn’t want to believe it. It was the next morning that they finally got it that their mom was gone. They thought they were going to go to the hospital and see their mom, but no,” he said. A GoFundMe page has been set up to return Ocampo’s body to Honduras.
The Star Tribune reported that Vogel had a long criminal history, the most recent a felony conviction for repeatedly violating a domestic violence no-contact order in July. He served 30 days in jail and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but that was stayed for five years. Probation violations would have triggered the prison sentence.
Since 2013, he had been convicted of carrying a weapon in public, assaulting a police officer, vandalism and driving without a license.
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