The family of a homeless California woman who died after a lawnmower ran over her is demanding someone be held accountable for her death.
"We’re going to try everything to get justice," Christopher Chavez said following the death of his 27-year-old daughter Christine Chavez in Modesto.
The Modesto Police Department said at noon, Saturday, July 8, a landscaper was using a tractor with a pull-behind mower to cut the grass at Beard Brook Park. The landscaper noticed an unresponsive body in an area he had already mowed, KTVU reported.
The landscaper called 911 and Chavez was declared dead on the scene.
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"They left big chunks of her all over the place, just covered up with the grass. We have to go see the place because we wanted some kind of closure, and to be right there, looking at the ground, and then all of a sudden, seeing (pieces) of her, is horrible," the victim’s sister Rosalinda told Fox 40.
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Chavez's dad said he was able to collect pieces of his daughter's bones, teeth and skull following her death.
The Stanislaus County Coroner is still working to determine a cause of death for Chavez. Her family is demanding local police carry out a thorough investigation, asking how it was possible the landscaper missed the woman in the grass.
"It's a lie that they didn't see her," Christopher Chavez said, according to KCRA. "I’m going to keep going because I need to. I’m looking for justice and I’m going to be there until something happens."
Chavez’s dad said she often came by his home while homeless, and frequently slept outside during the day. She had been homeless for the last three or four years, according to local reports.
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Local winery E & J Gallo Winery acquired Beard Brook Park from city management one day prior to Chavez’s death. A spokesperson for the company told local media that the landscaper was hired to remove weeds and provide fire prevention services.
The spokesperson said Chavez "was not visible and laying in a tall, weeded area."
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Chavez’s brother-in-law Jose Zermeño told Fox 40 the landscaper should have been more aware of his surroundings.
"I work with machinery, I know when you are with machinery, you are paying attention to what is ahead of you, especially if you have something dragging behind you," Zermeño said. "And for him not to see anything laying in front of him, he wasn’t doing his job."
Chavez leaves behind a 9-year-old daughter, KTLA reported.
