Mechanic and manual laborer Gilberto Sotelo of Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, California, United States has died. He was 38.
Sotelo and his wife Myra Christine Basulto, 35, have seven children together. The first child was born in 2005 and the youngest was born in 2021.
In 1989, Sotelo’s younger sister Rosio Ibarra was born. They were the two youngest of nine siblings.
On August 15, 2015, Sorio and her husband Jose DeJesus Ibarra-Espinoza, 32, were killed in a car crash on the 15 Freeway in Corona, Riverside County. They were with their baby who survived after being ejected from their car.
Giovanni Ceja, 31, of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA is a former detention officer in Bexar County. He was a corporal.
On January 6, 2018, Ceja became a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputy. Before this, he worked for another county in Texas for five years.
While on vacation in California, Ceja drank a significant amount of alcohol on August 6, 2023. In the early hours of August 7, 2023, he drove down Interstate 215 in Riverside, Riverside County a Honda Ridgeline pickup, which he borrowed from a relative.
Also that early morning, Sotelo was heading back to his wife and children at their home in Lake Elsinore after visiting Rosio’s grave. He drove an old Chevrolet Silverado he was fixing up.
At around 1:30 a.m., Sotelo ran out of fuel on the side of Interstate 215 at the Route 91 interchange so he called Basulto to bring him gasoline. She went on her way along with their youngest child.
While Sotelo was pouring the gasoline, Basulto and their child was in their car parked behind the Chevrolet Silverado. At around 1:45 a.m., Ceja allowed the Honda pickup he was driving to drift into the right shoulder, striking Sotelo and the Chevrolet Silverado.
Basulto ran toward toward Sotelo, who died at the scene. Ceja fled from the scene but he left behind the Honda pickup’s bumper.
Ceja returned to San Antonio and resumed his duties with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. On August 9, 2023, the Honda pickup he borrowed from a relative was found at a repair facility in Riverside, Riverside County and was taken as evidence by the California Highway Patrol.
On the morning of August 14, 2023, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office stating they had an active murder warrant for Ceja. That morning, he reported for duty.
Upon Ceja’s arrest, he was allowed to either resign or go through the process of termination. He chose the former and his resignation letter was accepted on the spot.
From Texas, Ceja will be extradited to California. He was charged with driving under the influence, murder and hit-and-run causing death.
