Rick Ballard and Dalia Olivas recently engaged El Paso, Texas couple killed by drunk driver, Juan Francisco Del Valle Ferrer, Fort Bliss soldier, who’d recently left a gender reveal party after getting drunk and plowing into their car after running a red light.
A Fort Bliss, Texas army soldier is accused of killing a Navy veteran and his teacher fiancee after getting behind the wheel after becoming drunk at a gender reveal party and plowing into the couple’s vehicle after running a red light.
Juan Francisco Del Valle Ferrer, 25, was allegedly drunk driving in El Paso, Saturday night, Nov. 2, when he drove his Honda HR-V into a black Mercedes carrying Rick Ballard and Dalia Olivas around 11:37 p.m., according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
The couple’s Mercedes spun out of control, crashing into a light pole, killing the recently engaged couple who’d been together since high school.
Ejected with such force that navy vet’s leg was severed & found inside car
Ballard, a 28-year-old Navy veteran, was ejected from the car with such force that his right leg was severed and found inside the vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit cited by KFOX14.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
His fiancée, Olivas, a 28-year-old English teacher at Triumph High School in El Paso, was in the passenger seat when she was found by first responders with ‘serious injuries.’
She was rushed to a local hospital, only to mortally succumb to her injuries.
Del Valle Ferrer, a US Army Sergeant based out of Fort Bliss, allegedly reeked of alcohol when officers arrived on the scene. The drunk driver told them he had consumed ‘a lot’ at a gender reveal party before the accident and then passed out, KFOX14 reported.
Del Valle Ferrer was allegedly wearing the baby blue wristband from the gender reveal party when cops found him at the scene.
He sustained serious injuries in the wreck and was taken to hospital.
Fort Bliss soldier shot past red light ‘solid’
Del Valle Ferrer allegedly had sped through a red light at an intersection before crashing into the couple’s car, according to an arrest affidavit.
A bystander who witnessed the horror crash said they watched as Del Valle Ferrer accelerated his Honda HR-V and drive ‘solid’ past a red light and collide into the couple’s Mercedes, according to the court documents.
The fatal crash happened about 15 miles away from Fort Bliss.
Del Valle Ferrer was identified by Fort Bliss officials on Wednesday as a 23-year-old Army soldier who is assigned to the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.
Both Ballard and Olivas families condemened Del Valle Ferrer‘s ‘reckless actions’ for allegedly getting behind the wheel drunk and killing their loved ones in GoFundMe’s set up for their funeral arrangements.
Ballard’s family said he was ‘working hard to build a life for himself’ and had ‘planted some roots in Florida, but he came home to El Paso all the time to visit his family and loved ones.’
‘His death is too soon, and his entire family could use your love and support,’ his family wrote.
Newly engaged victims remembered
Olivas’ sister, Diana Villalobos, wrote on her page that she was ‘full of life and had a heart of gold,’ and the family is devastated by her death.
The principal of Triumph High School, Francisco Chavez, told KFOX14 that Olivas had been working as an English teacher since 2022.
Chavez shared that the young educator had told him over the summer this would be her last year teaching at the school as she had plans to relocate to Florida with Ballard.
Del Valle Ferrer has been booked at the El Paso County Jail and has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter.
He currently remains held on a $520,000 bond.
