Local man who perished in wreck fondly remembered for personality, athletics
Lake Santeetlah – In February 2017, Freddy Romero “sealed the deal” for Robbinsville High School, winning a match that put the Black Knights on top against Rosewood High School for its first and only state wrestling dual team championship.
The headline “State Champs!” was big and bold, and Romero’s picture was on the front page.
Tragically, the next time Romero would grab a front-page headline in The Graham Star was this week’s edition, reporting on his death in a horrifying traffic accident in Lake Santeetlah.
In the early-morning hours of Jan. 19, Romero was a front-seat passenger in a 2016 Toyota Highlander, along with two friends, 26-year-old Katie Shae Queen of Robbinsville – who was driving – and rear-seat passenger Isreal Cervantez, 20, also of Robbinsville. The three were on Thunderbird Mountain Road, on a winding stretch of highway between Cheoah Point and the Town of Lake Santeetlah.
At one curve, Queen went straight on a curve and crashed down a steep, rocky embankment, plunging into the lake. Queen and Cervantez were able to escape from the sinking vehicle, but Romero was trapped inside and died.
The two survivors climbed back to the road in the early-morning darkness and walked to the Town of Lake Santeetlah to get help.
The first few houses they encountered – about 1/10 of a mile from the crash site – were vacation rentals and it appears the two tried knocking at several houses before they found help. A door-surveillance camera image obtained by The Graham Star shows the two knocking on one door at 3:18 a.m. Queen appeared to be uninjured, but Cervantez had a black eye and swollen face. They both appeared to be dry, but muddy below their knees.
After the two called 911, local authorities descended on the scene, including Graham County sheriff’s deputies and emergency services.
The Highway Patrol received a dispatch call at 4:31 a.m.
By that time, the wrecked vehicle was fully submerged and invisible from the surface.
Authorities sought help from the Henderson County Rescue Squad dive team. Local rescuers continued to search the chilly waters from the surface, but lacked the necessary equipment to find the sunken vehicle.
By sunrise, rain descended on the area, further hampering search efforts by local teams. The dive team arrived just after 2 p.m. and were in the water a short time later. By that time, it was sunny and fairly warm.
It didn’t take long for the dive team to locate the Toyota, not far from where it crashed into the water. It took some time for divers to determine the best way to recover the vehicle, and it was 4:47 p.m. by the time it first emerged from the water, pulled by a line connected to a wrecker from Eller’s Fuel & Wrecker Service.
The vehicle had been in water about 20 feet deep and was upside down when it first reached the surface. Romero’s body was still inside.
Family and friends who came to the scene were asked to move back about ⅛-mile to keep them from being exposed to a potentially-traumatic event as the SUV was pulled back to the road.
Aftermath
As of Monday, Queen, the driver, was charged with driving while impaired, according to records from the Graham County jail.
Cervantez said he was treated by emergency medical services personnel and did not seek further medical care.
Romero’s funeral was Sunday afternoon at Townson-Smith Funeral Home, leaving family and friends – including a large number of Robbinsville High wrestlers and wrestling fans – in mourning.
Cervantez, with a black eye and his face swollen from his injuries, returned to the accident scene later in the morning and kept vigil as emergency crews worked to recover the vehicle with his friend inside. He said he doesn’t remember anything from the time he reached the shore until he was sitting in the back of an ambulance.
Todd Odom, Robbinsville High School’s retired wrestling coach, coached Romero during that championship season back in 2017.
“My heart is broken,” Odom posted on the Robbinsville Wrestling Facebook page. “The Ville has lost one of its sons. One of their wrestlers. One of their Champions. We want to express our deepest condolences to the Family of Freddy Romero. ‘Fred’ was a two-time placer for Robbinsville. He placed 4th as a Junior and as a Senior made the State finals. He is most famously known for ‘sealing the deal’ by pinning in the final match of the 2017 State Dual team finals giving Robbinsville its only NCHSAA Team State Title.
“A week ago I ran into him. I always said ‘Te Amo Fred,’ and he always replied ‘love u too coach.’ Te Amo Fred. Siempre,” Odom wrote, Spanish for “Love you Fred. Always.”