Roxana Salazar. Photo courtesy of Jessica and Eli Salazar.

Roxana Salazar. Photo courtesy of Jessica and Eli Salazar.

On the evening of April 8, at about 11:25 p.m. emergency personnel were called out to the northbound side of Interstate 15 at the 2.3 mile-marker in response to a rollover accident. Beaver Dam Fire called Mesquite Fire Rescue for assistance.

The driver of the vehicle, 23 year-old Roxana Celina Salazar of Littlefield, was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled over her. She was pronounced dead at the scene due to her injuries. Her fiancée, 23 year-old Jorge Gonzalez, who was the only passenger, was transported to Mesa View Regional Hospital by Beaver Dam Fire Department with minor injuries.

While the investigation by Arizona Department of Public Safety concluded that Salazar was not wearing a seatbelt, the cause of the rollover is still under investigation.

Sources to the Mesquite Local News say that Salazar was a 2011 graduate from Beaver Dam High School with Salutatorian honors as well as an admirable athletic record.

“She had so much strength and regardless of what she was going through, she always had a smile,” said Keith Buchhalter, a family friend. “I knew her since she was a child. She went to school with my oldest daughter. That family has gone through so much and our thoughts are with them.”

Some of the community is also coming together for the family as they will be holding a benefit car wash 9 a.m. Saturday, April 16 at the old Ranch Market, 473 W. Mesquite Blvd, across from the Post Office.