Garcia gets 10 years for fatal crash

GONZALES — A 25-year-old Roma man pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter Monday in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence. José A. Garcia, 25, was driving the GMC pickup on Dec. 11, 2014 that collided with two vehicles on Hwy. 90A before traveling across the median and hitting a 2009 Ford Edge head-on in the westbound lanes just east of Church St.

Janice Sue Tenberg Grauke, 67, was driving the Ford Edge and sustained fatal injuries in the crash.

Grauke was taken from the crash site to Gonzales Memorial Hospital by EMS, where she was pronounced dead.

The occupants of the first two vehicles struck by Garcia were not injured.

Investigators learned that Garcia was using inhalants at the time of the crash and they obtained a search warrant for a blood sample. The sample was collected at University Hospital in San Antonio, where Garcia was airlifted after the wreck.

When blood tests confirmed the presence of illegal substances in his blood, he was taken into custody by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of intoxication manslaughter.

Members of the Grauke family said Garcia had refused earlier attempts to negotiate a plea agreement, and that the 10-year sentence was the final offer before a trial date was set.

Sue came to work as a bookkeeper for the Inquirer in 1969 and served for decades as office manager.

“It would be hard to find 12 people to serve on a jury that didn’t know Sue,” Inquirer publisher Valerie Reddell said. “There aren’t very many homes in Gonzales that don’t have some of Sue’s handmade stockings and ornaments as part of their holiday decorations.”