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Accident remained hidden for 6 days

Relatives filed missing persons reports in Manatee and Sarasota counties, but the accident occurred in Hillsborough.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published November 30, 2005

TAMPA - Two cousins found Saturday in an overturned Chevrolet Impala near Sun City Center died instantly in the crash and had been dead "at least five days," according to the Hillsborough County medical examiner.

"It looks like they had highway speed of about 70 mph," said Dr. Leszek Chrostowski. "They both had skull fractures. They were dead instantly."

But the news that Alexander and Edward Sauceda died quickly, and likely as they were driving home from Ybor City early the morning of Nov. 20, did little to comfort their grieving loved ones.

The Sauceda family continues to criticize the response by law enforcement in Manatee and Sarasota counties during the days the cousins were missing, even as law enforcement officials defended their actions.

"It wasn't even the authorities that found them," said Olivia Sauceda, Alexander's wife. "It was our own family.

"We could have found them earlier" with more help from authorities, she said.

Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Bristow said his agency "actually did a little more than we normally do on a missing persons report where there is no indication of foul play."

Family members found the Impala about noon Saturday, upside down and hidden in the underbrush and trees near an exit ramp off Interstate 75 to State Road 674. The hazard lights still were blinking.

Edward Sauceda, 25, of Sarasota and Alexander, 24, of Bradenton were dead inside the car. The airbags had deployed, but neither wore a seat belt, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Authorities have not determined what caused the crash, or the exact time that it occurred, said Trooper Larry Coggins. They are awaiting the results of toxicology reports.

Olivia Sauceda last saw her husband around 3 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Prana nightclub in Ybor City. Alexander and his cousin, Edward, had some drinks. Olivia Sauceda said she was there, but drove home in a separate car with relatives.

Sometime around 4 a.m., she talked to Edward, who was driving and getting close to home, she said. Alexander had passed out in the passenger's seat. The plan was for Alexander to sleep on Edward's couch in Sarasota, and come home to Bradenton later Sunday.

But the men never arrived. By Sunday night, Olivia Sauceda was at the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. She said she and her relatives begged the Manatee County sheriff's officials to take them seriously.

"They said they were adults, and they had no mental problems," Olivia Sauceda said. "They thought they were probably out joy riding."

Bristow said deputies took a missing persons report the night of Nov. 20, but there was no indication the men had met foul play.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said the family did not contact her agency.

Manatee sheriff's deputies did an aerial search Wednesday, Nov. 23, but found nothing, Bristow said.

Meanwhile, Sauceda family members searched on their own.

They filed a missing persons report with the Sarasota Sheriff's Office.

The agency did an aerial search Friday from Sarasota north up I-75 to Interstate 4, sheriff's Capt. Steve Burns said. When relatives told a detective about the last phone call Edward made to his girlfriend, shortly before 5 a.m. on Nov. 20, the detective called the cell phone company to determine where the call was made from.

Late Friday, while the Sauceda family was still with the detective, the company sent a fax to the Sarasota Sheriff's Office indicating the call was dialed from southern Hillsborough, Burns said.

The detective planned to do an aerial search of the area Saturday. But before he did, the Sauceda family went to the area Saturday morning on their own and found the overturned Impala, Burns said.

This week, Olivia Sauceda picked out a casket for her husband of almost four years.

--Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 30, 2005, 02:15:38]