HOUSTON, Texas — Sitting near a framed photo montage she made for him last Father’s Day, Pete Rosales and his wife, Mary, tearfully spoke about their 40-year-old daughter, Jennifer.
"It’s like she’s going to call me," said Pete Rosales. "She’s going to call.”
"Her smile, just hearing her every day," said Mary Rosales, speaking about what she'll miss the most. "Because I talk to her every day.”
Jennifer Rosales died early Sunday morning while returning home from a cousin’s party.
Police said a suspected impaired driver slammed into her SUV head-on while going the wrong way along the Eastex Freeway near Beltway 8.
A video shared with KHOU 11 by a viewer showed other drivers swerving out of the way as the pickup that was later involved in the crash traveled southbound in the northbound lanes.
Her parents feared the worst when they saw what looked like Rosales’s damaged vehicle on the news.
"I called her right away when I saw that car and thought, 'No, please don’t let it be my daughter,'" said Mary Rosales. "I’m sorry for whoever’s in it, but don’t let it be my daughter.”
They said they got a call from the sheriff’s office while on the way to Rosales’s house.
“I knew it was that, and I said, 'Are you calling me about my Jennifer?'" recalled Mary Rosales. "Because I’m on the way to go check on her.”
Rosales was a divorced mother of two teenage boys who shared her love of music.
In fact, a photo was taken last Friday night with her oldest son, who plays in the Porter High School band.
"Her boys were her world and she lived for them,” said Mary Rosales.
Her parents said there are plenty of loved ones to help them navigate life without their mother who managed to previously survive cancer.
Police said the driver who struck Rosales' car had two children in the truck with him. The children, a 14-year-old and a 6-year-old are expected to be okay.
The driver himself broke a leg and faced multiple charges.
He has yet to be identified.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for funeral expenses, with the remaining money going toward Rosales' sons.