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Teen Girl Whose Girlfriend Died in Livestreamed Car Crash Shares Story

Manuel Seja and Obudlia Sanchez

The teen survived the crash that killed her girfriend, an accident the girlfriend's sister livestreamed on Instagram.

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A 14-year-old girl who died in a car crash that her sister, the driver, horrifyingly live-streamed on Instagram, was in the vehicle with her girlfriend, who survived the ordeal and who spoke about their relationship that evolved from friendship to romantic love in an interview with Fresno, Calif., TV station KFSN.

In a story bound to become a cautionary tale for the social media age, Jacqueline Sanchez, who was less than a week away from celebrating her quinceanera, died in crash north of Los Banos, Calif., Tuesday when her sister, Obdulia Sanchez, crashed her Buick while singing and making hand gestures as she recorded live for Instagram. But the recording didn't stop with the crash. Obdulia, who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, continued filming after she realized her sister was dying, according to NBC News.

02-teen-kills-her-sister-in-live-streamed-car-crash_0Obdulia Sanchez

Obdulia, a resident of Stockton, Calif., and a recent high school graduate who had been in child protective services for two years, pleaded not guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter as well as to several other counts on Wednesday, although in the livestream of the aftermath of the crash she can be heard lamenting that she'd killed her sister, reports BuzzFeed News.

"I fucking killed my sister, OK? I know I'm going to jail for life," Obdulia said as she livestreamed the crash site. "This is the last thing I wanted to happen, OK? I don't fucking care, though. I'm going to hold it down. Rest in peace, sweetie. If you don't survive, I am so fucking sorry."

Jacqueline had been in the backseat with her girlfriend of seven months, Manuela Seja, whom she and Obdulia had traveled 80 miles from Stockton to Fresno to see, as Seja told KFSN. Seja, who suffered cuts to both legs in the accident -- she and Jacqueline were not wearing seat belts -- can be seen in the background of the livestream attempting to flag down help for her girlfriend.

Despite Obdulia's erratic driving, which caused her sister to scream at one point during the livestream, "She's going to kill me," 14-year-old Seja said she would rather focus on the love she and Jacqueline shared than on the accident.

01-teen-kills-her-sister-in-live-streamed-car-crashJacqueline Sanchez

"She wasn't like everybody else," Seja said while holding a black box of keepsakes Jacqueline had kept of their relationship. "She was just funny. She didn't even need to try. She'd always make you smile from the little dumb things she would say, and she wanted to travel the world and do amazing things."

Holding the box of notes and souvenirs of their time together, Seja told KFSN that she was grateful for the keepsakes. "I'm glad because it shows how much she cared about me," she said.

Seja tells her story below.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.