Sergio Montenegro was finally planning a trip home to Guatemala. After a year of separation, he would at last get to see his two young children again. They were already two and four years old, but he missed out on much of their early childhood after he emigrated to the United States to support them and his wife back at home.
His trip was scheduled for November. And then, last Wednesday, the 25-year-old man crashed into a tree while driving on Route 48 in Peconic just before 1 a.m.
Montenegro was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We don’t know whether he fell asleep at the wheel, or if something was wrong with his car, or if he swerved to avoid a deer,” said Lisa Cifarelli, owner of Crystal Clear Window Cleaning in Mattituck, where Montenegro has worked since moving to the U.S. “It’s still so hard to believe he’s gone.
Soon after he began working for them, Montenegro quickly became “like family” to Cifarelli and her husband David. Montenegro was one of their hardest workers, Cifarelli said, and he often helped the couple outside of work on things like home improvement projects and hosting private parties.
Montenegro even named his son in Guatemala after David, Cifarelli said.
“He was always the one my husband asked for help,” Cifarelli said. “It was kind of a joke among the employees that he was my husband’s first son. He was such a fixture in our lives.”
Montenegro was an extremely dedicated worker and completely devoted to his family, Cifarelli said. Though he was never able to see them more than once or twice a year, he spoke to his children every night on the telephone.
“He missed his kids a lot,” she said. “He was building a house in Guatemala for him and his family. He wanted his kids to have more opportunities than he did.”
After Montenegro’s own emigration to the United States several years ago, many of his family members have traveled on working visas to work alongside him at the window cleaning shop. For the past two summers, his wife has even come on a visa to work with him, leaving their two children in the care of Montenegro’s parents.
Montenegro’s wife had just returned to Guatemala for the fall three weeks before his death.
Cifarelli has started a GoFundMe fundraiser to raise money for Montenegro’s funeral expenses. She hopes to pay for the cost of sending Montenegro’s remains back to Guatemala for a burial service with his family, which will be more than $4,500.
Anything extra they can raise will be sent to Montenegro’s wife and children. “We want to do whatever we can to make sure his family doesn’t have to worry,” Cifarelli said.
A wake will be held tomorrow, Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at St John’s Roman Catholic Church in Riverhead.
