Valley family says teenage girl they had been told died in a car accident is alive in hospital

PEORIA, AZ - Family and friends of Abby Guerra held a car wash Sunday, one they planned last week to cover her funeral expenses.

But within the past 24 hours they've learned she's not dead.

"We're all angry at the situation," said Abby's cousin Michelle Cisneros. "We could have been at her side, telling her to fight. It might have given her more strength."

One week ago, 19-year-old Abby and four friends were on their way home from Disneyland when their car blew a tire on Interstate 10 near Tonopah and rolled over.

Abby's family says investigators told them she died in the accident and her friend, 21-year-old Marlena Cantu, was at St. Joseph's Hospital in critical condition.

"We all went in (to the hospital room)," said friend Colleen Donovan. "We were talking to Marlena, thinking it was Marlena. Even Abby's parents went in there. Nobody knew."

Abby's family claims they were notified late Saturday afternoon there had been a mistake.

The person lying in the hospital bed wasn't Marlena, it was Abby.  Marlena, it turns out, was dead.

"Beautiful girl, young, bright, living the life of a 21-year-old," said Delores Retana, girlfriend of Marlena's father Frank.

"This past week has been a horrific experience, clearly multiple mistakes have been made both at the DPS level and in the St. Joe's emergency room," added Retana.

"Abby's parents are planning a funeral, Marlena's parents are hoping their daughter gets better when it was the exact opposite for an entire week," said Donovan.

Now, Abby's friends and family plan to give a portion of the car wash proceeds to Marlena's family.

They're still not quite sure how the mix-up happened in the first place.

"We hope something good comes from this and they change how they do things so no family ever has to go through this again," said Cisneros.

A representative for the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's office declined to comment as did a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety.