Christmas Eve crash claims life of 2-year-old Atwater girl

Dec. 25--An Atwater couple's holiday was torn by tragedy as an accident on an icy mountain road claimed the life of their 2-year-old daughter, relatives said Sunday.

Raymond and Kelly Dean were traveling to visit family in Quincy, in Plumas County, when their car went off the roadway during the afternoon of Christmas Eve, according to Maricella Williams, Raymond Dean's mother.

"They were going up the mountain, they lost control, and went down the side of the mountain," Williams told the Merced Sun-Star.

Williams said the family believes Raymond Dean may have hit a patch of ice. She did not know the location of the accident. Efforts by the Sun-Star to reach the California Highway Patrol office in Quincy were unsuccessful Sunday evening.

According to Williams, Kelly Dean, 32, suffered a broken ankle and was "pretty beaten up" in the accident. Raymond Dean, 29, was treated for minor injuries at a hospital in Reno, she said. The couple's 4-year-old son survived unscathed, she said.

The couple were distraught over the loss of their daughter, Arizona, Williams said.

"They are very distraught, very broken," she said. "They just cannot believe that Arizona has passed. ... They are very heartbroken, as we all are."

The Deans and their children had been with Williams and other family members in Riverbank on Dec. 23, she said. "We were all together celebrating."

Kelly Dean is a stay-at-home mother and Raymond Dean was in the process of changing professions to become a truck driver, Williams said. The family has no insurance and the cash Raymond Dean recently had earned from his salary was lost in the crash, along with all of the possessions they were carrying, she said.

"That's all replaceable. A life is not replaceable," she said.

The family has set up a GoFundMe account named "Arizona Dean Memorial Fund" to help pay for their medical and funeral costs, Williams said.

Michelle Morgante: 209-385-2456

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