Local
Eloy family mourns Thelma Candelaria after fatal train collision
Thelma Candelaria, 47, was killed by a Union Pacific train in Eloy on Oct. 15, hours after relatives reported her missing when she did not return from her morning run. Police say the engineer sounded the horn and applied emergency brakes; investigators have not determined whether she meant to be on the tracks.
Thelma Candelaria, a 47-year-old Eloy woman whose family reported her missing after she failed to return from her morning jog, was struck and killed by a Union Pacific train shortly after 6 a.m. Oct. 15, police said.
Eloy police responded to the collision near the railroad crossing at Sunshine Boulevard and Frontier Street. Investigators said the train engineer saw Candelaria walking between two sets of tracks, sounded the horn and activated the emergency braking system. A second train traveling in the opposite direction had recently passed and also sounded its horn, police said. Candelaria was nevertheless struck.
Police have not said whether she intended to enter or cross the tracks. The incident remains under investigation. The crossing was closed during the emergency response and has since reopened.
Candelaria’s relatives told local reporters she had been livestreaming her run shortly before she died and had been maintaining a nine-day running streak. They described her as someone who shared positivity and made others feel welcome. Her daughter, Alaisha Candelaria, remembered her as free-spirited, resilient and “an angel.”
Her friend and neighbor, Amber Sherban, said Candelaria was exceptionally generous and loving. Candelaria had been baptized days before her death, according to the family.
She leaves seven children, including three minors, according to a family fundraiser seeking help with groceries, household bills and other daily expenses.