Train Kills Woman, Toddler Crossing Tracks in Pomona

Maria Castaneda and her 18-month-old daughter, Crystal, were struck by a train and killed in Pomona on Thursday night under circumstances about as mysterious as their lives. Relatives said Castaneda, who was not married, had a history of drug problems and moved often. They had no idea where she was living.

Castaneda, 31, was pushing Crystal in a shopping cart containing groceries when the cart’s wheels apparently got stuck on the railroad tracks.

The engineer in the approaching freight train slammed on the brakes and repeatedly blew the whistle, Pomona Police Lt. Bela Laszlo said. Castaneda was not able to get out of the way. She and her child were hurled 100 feet by the impact and died at the scene.

There were no other witnesses, so it was not clear whether they had crossed under the crossing gates, Laszlo said.

Castaneda seemed to lose focus in her life 10 years ago, when she lost custody of two sons, now teen-agers, said her sister-in-law, Conception Miranda.

The sons and a 13-year-old daughter are all in foster homes, police said. Castaneda occasionally worked as a cocktail waitress and made periodic attempts to refrain from drug use, Miranda said.

“She used to tell me she was going to lead a new life and get her children back,” Miranda said. She said she could only guess why her sister-in-law failed to get out of the way of the train.

“I think she got panicked with the noise of the train,” Miranda said, or “maybe she was on drugs.”

Authorities said an autopsy is scheduled.

The woman’s brother, Javier Castaneda, 36, who lives a few blocks from where the accident occurred, said he had not talked to his sister in a year.

But Miranda said she saw her sister-in-law walking in the neighborhood, or at the market, from time to time.

Miranda said her sister-in-law, who was from Tijuana but had lived in Pomona a dozen years, “was real nice. She was friendly and kind to everybody.”