The District Attorney’s office says that Eric Rsel Weers will appear in court today to be charged with the murder of Ana Barajas.
The District Attorney’s office says that Eric Rsel Weers will appear in court today to be charged with the murder of Ana Barajas. Weers is accused of driving his car into coming traffic on Highway 17 on Monday. Police say that he confessed to intentionally crashing his car into a random vehicle. Weers was uninjured, while Barajas died at the scene.
Over time, more information is being released about both Weers and his victim.
Weers, 28 (not 29, as originally reported), apparently suffered from mental illness and was living in the Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center, a home for people suffering from psychiatric illness. According to some reports, he frequently avoided taking his medication.
Barajas, 48 (not 49, as originally reported), was a single mother of four adult children, who moved to Santa Cruz in 1982. Her husband was killed in a car crash in 1997, and over the ensuing years, she worked overtime at the Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center to help put her children through college. Her family says that at the time of her death she was engaged to be married.
Weers will be charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and driving the wrong way on a divided highway. He is currently being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
