SWFL father devastated by loss of 2 young daughters in crash

Reporter: Gail Levy Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Sisters Flor and Pilar Del Carmen Ixcoy. Credit: Shared with WINK News.

The deaths of a family’s two little girls became a heartbreaking reality when they were killed in a car crash.

Last Saturday, Mother Joyce Zamago, 44, of Immokalee was arrested after investigators say she was drunk in the passenger’s seat of the car when she let her 14-year-old daughter drive with other children in the car. That trip resulted in a deadly crash in Lehigh Acres that killed 4-year-old Flor Del Carmen Ixcoy and 3-year-old Pilar Del Carmen Ixcoy.

According to the arrest report, Zamago had been letting her oldest daughter drive since she was 12 years old.

Husband Hugo Waldemar Ixcoy is devastated his daughters were killed. He and his wife, Zamago, have been estranged. He told us, at this point, he hopes to lay his girls to rest and is asking for prayers.

“This emptiness in my soul is indescribable,” said Ixcoy, whose interview was translated from Spanish to English. “What I want now is to be able to … give my kids a proper burial.”

Ixcoy says he didn’t know his teenage daughter had regularly been getting behind the wheel.

“I didn’t know that my 14-year-old was driving,” Ixcoy said. “Joyce put her up to drive. Alcohol was a big factor in that, as well as the people she chose surround herself with. That never should’ve happened.”

The family’s 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter were also in the car at the time of the crash. They had minor injuries.

Ixcoy says Flor died instantly in the crash, while Pilar died last Sunday. As devastating as this is for him, he said he’s proud of his youngest because her organs were able to be donated to save three other children.

Ixcoy said his family’s life wasn’t perfect, but their life was lived with love.

“I loved them,” Ixcoy said. “My kids and I had our issues, but when I gave them a hug, they’d say, ‘I love you daddy,’ and all our problems went away. Those are moments that are burned into my memories.”

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