Jacqui had planned to help her father run his air conditioning factory in Caracas, Venezuela after she finished her industrial engineering studies at the university there. But first she wanted to learn to speak to English. She enrolled in a private language school in Austin, Texas. She had been in the United States for less than a month when her new friends coaxed her into going to a birthday party with them one Saturday night.
The Crash
Early in the morning of September 19, 1999, Jacqui and four others were on their way home. So was Reggie Stephey, an 18-year-old high school student, who had spent the evening drinking beer with his buddies. On a dark road on the outskirts of Austin, Reggie’s SUV veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and her friends. Two passengers in the car were killed at the scene, and two were rescued. Within minutes, the car caught fire. Jacqui was pinned in the front seat on the passenger side. She was burned over 60 percent of her body.
No one thought she could survive. But Jacqui lived.
Her hands were so badly burned that all of her fingers had to be amputated. She lost her hair, her ears, her nose, her left eyelid and much of her vision. Jacqui’s ordeal and the early days of her recovery were featured in an extensive account prepared by the Austin American Statesman. Jacqui has now had more than 100 operations since the crash. Even more are expected.
In June 2001, Reggie Stephey was convicted of two counts of intoxication manslaughter for the deaths of Jacqui’s two friends. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $20,000. Having served his full sentence, he was released from the state penitentiary in 2008.