Teen still recovering

Raissa Beatriz Dominguez is still recovering at Medical Center Hospital from a head-on collision on Interstate 10 in Pecos County, but her mother, Angie Dominguez, was afraid to tell Raissa what happened to her boyfriend that Sunday.

Raissa Dominguez and Alex Sifuentes Jr., 18, have dated each other since their sophomore year. They became so close that Raissa turned down a scholarship to St. Mary's University in San Antonio to follow her boyfriend to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque to become a pre-med student, Angie said.

They planned to get married before Raissa's Pontiac Sunfire blew a tire and went into oncoming traffic Sunday afternoon. She collided with a Dodge Stratus in the accident, which killed Sifuentes, critically wounded Raissa and sent three passengers in the Stratus to two area hospitals.

"It's hard to see your children this way," said Angie Dominguez, who drove from San Antonio to stay near Raissa's bed at the hospital since early Monday. "I would give anything to hear her talk back right now."

By Wednesday, she became more responsive, Angie Dominguez said. Her daughter can now squeeze her hand or wiggle her toes when asked, but she's still on a ventilator and cannot speak or write. The teen doesn't yet know her boyfriend didn't make it, Angie said, and she said she won't tell her until she's doing better.

She said she spoke to Sifuentes' parents, and they seemed to her to be handling it as well as they could. She also heard from an attorney representing Octavio Porras-Torres, the driver of the Stratus. Angie Dominguez said right now she's more concerned about Raissa than legal matters.