A retired police officer and his two children were killed in a car-crash as he was on his way to pick up his longtime fiancé from work, when a Jeep swerved into the oncoming lane causing a head on collision.
Digna Melendez-Benavente was waiting for Andrew Benavente and their two children, AJ, 13, and Madelyn 5, on Friday afternoon in Andover, NJ. But after two calls confirming her family were on their way, they never showed up.
Minutes before the fatal crash, Madelyn Face-times her mother to say, ‘We’re coming Mommy!’ Andrew then called to say: ‘We’re on our way, baby!’
But instead of their expected arrival, Digna got another call with the earth-shattering news that her family had been killed in a car accident, when Andrew’s 2001 Ford Ranger pickup truck was struck by Bruce Cseh, 22, who had crossed the double yellow lines into the wrong lane of traffic.
Andrew, a retired Newark police officer, Madelyn, and AJ were all killed in the crash. Cseh was extricated from the crash scene, but died later of internal injuries.
The Benavente family: Digna (left), AJ (top center), Andrew (right), and Madelyn (center bottom), three of whom were killed in a fatal car crash on Friday
The couple’s two children were killed in a head-on collision with their father’s pick up truck on Friday as the family headed to pick up their mother at work
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by local law enforcement.
Andover Township Police Chief Eric Danielson, who was among the first to respond to the scene, said the case is just beginning, but there were several eyewitnesses who said it appeared Cseh’s Keep ‘crossed fully into the oncoming lane.’
Authorities plan to recover the 2021 Jeep’s ‘black box,’ which should have collected information during and before a crash – including speed, brakes, steering pattern and airbag deployment.
Danielson called the accident the worst, in terms of fatalities, that he has encountered.
A devastated Digna Benavente spoke Sunday of her immense love for her family.
‘My babies were precious. My husband was precious. People all over the world wish they had what I had,’ she told NorthJersey.com. Both of her pregnancies had been hard fought after the couple battled a series of issues relating to infertility.
Digna and Andrew were together for 15 years in a relationship she described as ‘perfect.’
‘There was no better father than Andrew. It was important to me to find the one that would be the best father. He was the best of the best. He took care of all of us,’ she recalled.
Edwin Melendez, Digna’s brother, said Andrew had been ‘a big teddy bear of a man with a loving heart.’
‘He was always smiling. He was our rock. He didn’t deserve an end like this.’
He added that his sister and brother-in-law truly were a picture-perfect happy couple. ‘They were always having get togethers. They used any excuse to gather the family together and make parties.’
Andrew Benavente, a retired police officer, was described as a loving father and partner
Friday’s fatal crash remains under investigation, but occurred when a driver of a 2021 Jeep crossed the yellow line into oncoming traffic and crashed head on into Andrew’s pickup truck
The family’s fatal crash has devastated Digna Benavente, who now has to plan three funerals
Edwin launched a GoFundMe page to help provide his sister with financial support for the pending funeral costs.
‘I don’t know what it will be like to bury three people at the same time. I love my sister. I don’t know what else to do for her. She’s got nobody now,’ he said mournfully.
Madelyn, who was due to graduate kindergarten in just a few weeks, will be buried in the dress her mother bought her for the occasion.
The tragic crash was the first fatal accident in Sussex County in 2023, and the deadliest to occur in the county in several years. In 2022, 14 people died in car accidents in the county.
Fatal car crashes in New Jersey have fallen 21 percent in 2023, after a sharp rise in the last two years.
