Drunk Driver Pleads Guilty In Lakewood Crash That Killed Mom, Daughter

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A Monmouth County man has pleaded guilty in a drunk driving crash that killed a Lakewood woman and her daughter in July 2025, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Raul Luna-Perez, 44, of Red Bank, pled guilty on Monday before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan to two counts of aggravated manslaughter and one count of assault by auto in the July 26, 2025 crash that killed Maria Pleitez, 42, and her daughter Dayanara Cortes, 11. A second 11-year-old girl was seriously injured but survived the crash, authorities said.

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Luna-Perez was driving a Dodge Durango east on Cross Street when his vehicle crossed the center line and hit a Nissan Sentra driven by Pleitez head-on in the area of Hearthstone Drive. The prosecutor's office said investigators determined Luna-Perez was driving about 60 miles per hour and crossed over the double yellow line, passing four other vehicles before hitting the Nissan.

Pleitez died at the scene and Dayanara, who was in the front seat, died at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood later. authorities said. The other child was treated at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and later released, authorities said. A passenger in Luna-Perez's Dodge Durango also was taken to the hospital and later released.

First responders at the scene saw Luna-Perez showed signs of impairment and he was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center where a draw of his blood was obtained pursuant to a court-authorized warrant.

Tests on the blood sample showed his blood alcohol concentration was at least 0.19 percent at the time of the blood draw, the prosecutor's office said.

"Based on the dissipation of BAC over time, it is estimated that his BAC would have been approximately three times the legal limit at the time of the crash," the prosecutor's office said.

The toxicology report on the blood draw also showed cocaine metabolites, and an expert opined that Luna-Perez was under the influence of both substances at the time of the crash.

Luna-Perez initially was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of assault by auto, but those charges were upgraded in August 2025 after authorities received the results of the blood draw.

An immigration detainer was placed on him on July 28, hours after the charges against him in the deaths of the woman and child were announced. He was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and taken to the ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, but was returned to the Ocean County Jail after the charges were upgraded. He remains in the county jail.

Luna-Perez is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 28, at which time prosecutors will be seeking a 10-year prison term on each of the aggravated manslaughter charges, subject to the No Early Release Act, and 18 months on the assault by auto charge, the prosecutor's office said. The two aggravated manslaughter sentences will be requested to run consecutively, and the assault by auto sentence will be concurrent, the prosecutor's office said.