The Ector County District Attorney said the bodies of two people who died in a December fatal accident on West Loop 338 will have to be exhumed after an autopsy was not performed after their deaths.

In addition, a 52-year-old Pleasant Farms man was indicted with two counts of murder and two counts of intoxicated manslaughter in connection with the case.

Ruben Hinojos Gandara, 62, and Paula Sanchez, 71, both of Odessa, died on Dec. 14 after they were driving westbound on West Eighth Street and collided with a southbound 2007 Dodge Ram that was southbound on West Loop 338, a previous Odessa American article stated.

The driver of the Dodge, Carroll Franklin Carpenter, 6173 W. Mulberry St., was indicted Monday and being held at the Ector County Detention Center on bonds totaling $200,000.

In a report by Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Adrian Olivas and as reported at the scene, Gandara reportedly ran a red light and collided with Carpenter.

Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said that while that was originally reported, further investigation into the case by the District Attorney’s office and DPS showed evidence that merited the murder and intoxication manslaughter charges.

But Bland said at the time of the accident Carpenter was supposedly intoxicated — and has two previous driving while intoxicated convictions — and an autopsy should have been requested earlier in the investigation by the Ector County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Carpenter was not charged after the accident and was transported to Medical Center Hospital after the accident, previous reports stated. However, Bland said Carpenter was later arrested and charged with DWI. The indictment states that Carpenter was arrested on Feb. 26.

In addition, Bland said the murder charge stems from Carpenter committing the felony of driving while intoxicated and acting in a manner that was “dangerous to human life.”

“There is no reason to do that, no matter what the circumstances are,” Bland said. “If alcohol is involved, an autopsy should be done.”

After receiving the case, Bland said he could not take the case to court without an autopsy and has asked Ector County Medical Examiner Anne Acreman to exhume the bodies. Bland added that there is no timetable for the autopsies, but said it should happen “soon.”

A woman who answered the phone at Acreman’s office said the medical examiner would not comment on the situation.

Crystal Sparks, one of the eight children of Gandara and Sanchez, said she was both happy and scared about the situation regarding her parents’ death.

On the one hand, she said, she was glad that the person who was responsible for her parents’ death was behind bars and facing possible conviction. However, she did not like the idea of having her parents dug up after being laid to rest.

“I feel like my parents ain’t resting,” Sparks said.

Speaking from her parents’ house in the 1500 block of North Avenue J, Sanchez spoke about the activities her parents loved to do while they were still alive.

Her mother, who loved her garden, planted several rose bushes and tended to her garden almost every day. Her father, who loved the Dallas Cowboys, would mow the grass and sometimes walk a few blocks down the road to mow Sparks’ lawn as well.

On the day of their death, Sparks said she had talked to them earlier that morning and said she thinks the couple was at the convenience store at the intersection of the fatal wreck buying lottery tickets beforehand.

“It was just something she had to have,” Sparks said.

As an avid Catholic, Sanchez would wear a necklace with a medallion that has the hands of the Virgin Mary — the mother of Jesus — praying engraved on it. Sparks said she has worn it every day since her parents’ death.

Sparks said she can forgive Carpenter, but said she was not happy that alcohol was reportedly involved in the accident. Explaining she avoids driving on major roads, Sparks said she wished more people would think twice before drinking and driving.

“My mom had this saying that everything happened for a reason,” Sparks said. “But without my mom and dad, we’re lost.”

Public information website Public Data states Carpenter, who is listed as Carroll Franklin Carpenter Jr., was convicted with his second DWI on June 23, 2000 in Ector County. No information was available for his first DWI.

Section 49.08 of the Texas Penal Code states intoxication manslaughter charges stem when someone “causes the death of another by accident or mistake.” Bland said the murder charges stem from Carroll being charged with a felony-level DWI and intoxication manslaughter.

“If a person commits an act clearly dangerous to human life while in the act of committing a felony … then it’s a murder,” Bland said.

The exhumation request is not the first time issues have been raised about the status of the medical examiner’s office.

In a case involving the death of Talvis Shetalvion Da’don Redic, a child who was born premature and then died on Oct. 21, Bland said the lack of an autopsy prohibited him from seeking a first-degree endangering of a child charge against the child’s mother, Talisha Redic.

In a grand jury report, it stated the members of the grand jury acted “reckless” in their investigation.

In response, the Ector County Commissioners Court created a special advisory committee to discuss the future of the medical examiner’s office. Bland said he’s in favor of disbanding the office.

A call made to Ector County Judge Susan Redford was not returned Wednesday evening.

Bland said anyone who continued to support the medical examiner’s office should have to talk to the victim’s children and explain to them why their parents’ remains were having to be brought back up. He called the talk one of the “toughest conversations” he has ever had.

“If anyone is going to defend the medical examiner as it is currently constituted, they should have the guts to tell the family why they support that because this is a travesty and a horror to live through,” Bland said.