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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Suspect arrested in DUI death of 20-year-old Santa Ana woman

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A man was behind bars this morning accused of murder, vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI in the traffic death of a 20-year-old Santa Ana woman in Costa Mesa.

Police responded around 2:30 a.m. Sunday to Sunflower Avenue and Sakioka Drive, where a Toyota pickup went through a red light and broadsided a Corolla sedan, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Bryan Glass.

A passenger in the Corolla, Cara Lee of Santa Ana, was pronounced dead at the scene, Glass said in a statement.

The pickup driver, identified as Gustavo Adrian Vega, 22, of Costa Mesa, was fleeing an earlier non-injury hit-and-run crash in Santa Ana when he struck the Corolla, Glass said.

Vega was being held in lieu of $1,050,000 bail, according to Orange County jail records.

The driver of the Corolla, Hao A. Nguyen, 21, was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. Nguyen was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI and released from custody at the hospital, Glass said.

Santa Ana police conducted a separate investigation of the non-injury hit-and-run crash in their jurisdiction, Glass said.

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