Man Sentenced In Speeding DUI Crash That Killed NJ Woman, Daughter

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Monmouth County man who was drunk and speeding in a crash that killed a Lakewood woman and her daughter, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Raul Luna-Perez, 44, of Red Bank, was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, the prosecutor's office said.

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That is due to being sentenced to 10 years in prison for each count of aggravated manslaughter in the July 26, 2025 crash that killed Maria Pleitez, 42, and her daughter Dayanara Cortes, 11, authorities said. Those sentences are subject to the No Early Release Act, requiring Luna-Perez serve 85 percent of the sentences before becoming eligible for parole consideration.

They also were ordered to run consecutively, meaning Luna-Perez likely will not be eligible for parole consideration until sometime in 2041; he has been held in jail since his arrest in the fatal crash.

Luna-Perez, who pleaded guilty in June, also was sentenced to 18 months in prison on the charge of assault by auto, to run concurrently with the aggravated manslaughter sentences. A second 11-year-old girl was seriously injured in the crash but survived, authorities have said.

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, the prosecutor's office said.

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.

Authorities said he had multiple prior arrests for driving under the influence, including two earlier in 2025 before the fatal crash.

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 will serve his sentence in New Jersey state prison before facing immigration proceedings.