Fatal crash victim remembered one year later
On a cloudy Monday morning, family and friends gathered at Cherokee Memorial Park for a memorial service in honor of Marcelino Castellano, who was killed at the age of 68 in a hit-and-run accident on Interstate 5 south of Sacramento on Aug. 6, 2017.
“It’s been really heartbreaking, your stomach hurts with sadness,” Andrea Castellano, Marcelino’s daughter, said. “The phone call came that our father was no longer with us, it felt like a piece of us went with him. Our dad was our protector, our comforter.”
Marcelino was on his way to work at Pacific Coast Producers in Woodland with two coworkers last year when a driver in a Mercedes struck his 1999 Volvo, causing it to flip and roll before coming to rest on the shoulder of Interstate 5.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the driver of the Mercedes attempted to drive away before abandoning the vehicle and fleeing on foot, but Andrea said no arrests have been made.
“We haven’t heard anything,” Andrea said. “We’ve been in contact with CHP, but there’s nothing new.”
A CHP official could not be reached for comment.
Leticia Galvan, who helped found Luis G. Alvarez, Jr., Rewards for Justice, Inc. after her son Luis Alvarez, Jr. was fatally shot in April 2016, said she and her organization plan to offer cash rewards for information that leads to the arrest of Marcelino’s killer.
“We’re here mainly to support the family because we’ve lost a loved one and we know what they’re going through,” Galvan said.
Marcella Orrock, Andrea’s sister, said that she and her family have been doing their best to support one another in the year since their father was killed.
“The only reason why we’re holding up is because we need to be with each other, we need to be each other’s strength right now,” Marcella said. “That’s what my dad taught us, to always be there for each other, no matter what. My dad was our rock. He wasn’t just a father to me and my sister, he was a father to everybody.”
Marcella and her family have continued their tradition of having dinner every Sunday to keep his memory alive, she said, although she said they still feel his absence as strongly as when they had first learned of his death.
“Nobody should have to go through this tragedy,” Marcella said. “I keep thinking he’ll knock on my door to watch his old cowboy movies, that’s what he loved to do. We’ve always had Sunday barbecues at my house, but it’s just not the same without him.”
Jane Castellano, who was with her late husband Marcelino for 50 years, said she still hopes that CHP will find her husband’s killer soon to bring closure to her family as she sat in a lawn chair in front of Marcelino’s grave while wearing a T-shirt printed with his likeness.
“It’s been so hard for us, we want justice,” Jane said. “It’s not going to bring him back, but these people have to pay for what they did.”
Still grieving the loss of her husband with whom she shared 50 years of her life, Jane says “goodnight,” to his picture before she goes to bed, she said, and says “good morning” each time she wakes up.
A lifelong fan of the Dallas Cowboys football team and John Wayne movies, Jane said Marcelino wore his cowboy hat every day as he went to work to support his four children, 22 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
“He would go to work and come home to his family every day,” Jane said. “On the weekends, our treat was to go to the hills, that’s what he loved. We would just drive in the mountains and find little towns we’d never found before. Now, there are only memories.”