Francesca Dominguez had just turned 31 when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver who had a blood alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit.
DENVER — The Colorado State Patrol said every December, troopers see a rise in alcohol-related car crashes. The force is committed to reducing serious injury and fatal impaired driving crashes by 15% in 2025.
In 2020, Francesca Dominguez was killed by a drunk driver on Highway 2 in Commerce City. On Monday, the Dominguez family shared their daughter’s story.
“She was never one to paint inside the lines. She had to go out,” Francesca’s father Daniel Dominguez said.
“The teachers noticed that she had a knack for it,” her mother Judy Dominguez said.
Her family said she showed love through her artwork.
“That’s how she gifted. Everybody got paintings,” Judy said.
Years of gifts decorate the inside of Francesca’s family home, but her life was left unfinished.
“She was cheated out of life,” Daniel said.
Francesca had just turned 31 when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver who had a blood alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit.
Investigators said on Oct. 16, 2020, Fructuoso Rosales-Cano drove off the road and hit two cars, killing Francesca and Commerce City detective Curt Holland.
“Nobody wants to be in the shoes that we have been in these last four years. This type of grief, it’s with you all the time,” Judy Dominguez said.
Col. Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said he remembers where he was the night of the crash.
“I was actually on scene that night, and among the many memories that I have, I remember Mr. Dominguez showing up on scene looking for his daughter,” Packard said.
“We are going to commit to reducing serious injury and fatal impaired driving crashes by 15% in 2025,” he said.
Packard said it will be done, in part, through increased enforcement and public outreach.
“When we are visible out on the roads and we will be data-driven, we will patrol in the counties, the hours and the locations where we know impaired driving is at its worst,” he said.
A month before Christmas, Rosales-Cano was found guilty of the crash that killed Francesca and Holland.
“We put everything out, we decorated, we laughed, we joyed, but when we were done we realized – she is not coming home,” Daniel Dominguez said.
On the walls of their home, Francesca is far from forgotten.
“We don’t want the accident to be what her life was,” Judy said.
A life as bright as her paintings, with a message for everyone this holiday season.
“Just get home safe, because come the next morning that’s the best prize that you can have for the New Year is being there with your family,” Daniel said.
