5th family member dies in N.C. crash

By Staff reports

For the AJC

Three-year-old Ezekiel Alvarez, the last surviving member of a Gwinnett family killed in a North Carolina wreck Thursday, has died.

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WITN-TV A Gwinnett County family's Jeep lies upside down in a flooded ditch after a crash that left four people dead in rural North Carolina.

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He died Friday around 8 p.m. at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C., said Patty McQuillan, North Carolina public safety department spokeswoman.

Daniel Alvarez, 27, his wife Natalie Owens, 26, and 1-year-old Ariela Alvarez died at the scene when the family's SUV hydroplaned and flipped into a roadside canal 145 miles east of Raleigh.

Three-year-old Zacharia Alvarez, Ezekiel's twin, died after being taken to a hospital.

Grieving relatives had been holding vigil for Ezekiel and planning to give him a home.

An official with Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Buford told the AJC on Sunday that arrangements are being made for the funeral home to handle services for all five family members.