A Bay Area mother who was critically injured when her family's overturned SUV was struck by three vehicles on Interstate 80 near Vacaville on Halloween morning has died, days after her husband was killed in the same crash, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Vanessa Tobias, 29, was declared brain dead Nov. 6 after spending six days at Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, her mother said in an update to a family GoFundMe campaign. The family said Tobias was an organ donor and that her heart, pancreas, kidneys and liver were being donated. Her heart was stopped early Tuesday for the organ donation procedure, the Chronicle reported.
Her husband, Gregory Tobias, 29, died at the scene of the Oct. 31 crash. The couple's only child, a young son named Austin, was not in the vehicle, according to the California Highway Patrol. A fundraiser launched after Gregory's death had already been reported; this account is the later confirmation of Vanessa Tobias's death and organ donation.
The crash happened about 2:35 a.m. on eastbound I-80 just west of Lagoon Valley Road in Vacaville. A blue Hyundai Tucson carrying the couple overturned and came to rest blocking the eastbound lanes for reasons investigators have not determined, CHP said. A blue BMW coupe, a gray Buick SUV and a white Kia sedan then struck the disabled Hyundai. Gregory Tobias was pronounced dead at the scene. Vanessa Tobias was taken to the hospital in critical condition, while the 60-year-old Kia driver suffered major injuries. The other two drivers were not injured, according to CHP.
CHP said the couple was wearing seat belts and that alcohol and drugs were not suspected as contributing factors. No arrests have been reported, and the circumstances leading to the initial rollover remain under investigation, the Chronicle reported. In the GoFundMe update, Vanessa's mother described the six days her daughter spent hospitalized. "There are no words to describe the heartbreak of a mother who prayed so desperately for God to heal her baby," she wrote.