A man federal officials say was deported once and re-entered the United States illegally faces homicide charges after a crash that killed a newly engaged 23-year-old Ohio teacher and seriously injured his fiancée.
Alvaro Uribe-Gonzalez, 33, a Mexican national, is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle without a valid license following Sunday evening’s crash on U.S. Route 33 in Fairfield County.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Cameron Lyon, 23, was driving west when Uribe-Gonzalez’s eastbound GMC Terrain left the roadway, overcorrected, crossed into the westbound lanes and struck Lyon’s Chevrolet Trax. The GMC caught fire. Lyon was treated at the scene but died a short time later. Investigators suspect alcohol played a role in the crash. Uribe-Gonzalez suffered minor injuries.
Lyon’s fiancée, 23-year-old Abrielle Kerns, was also in the vehicle and was seriously hurt. The Highway Patrol initially described her injuries as non-life-threatening, but her family says she remains in intensive care, “fighting to recover.”
Immigration history
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Uribe-Gonzalez first crossed into the U.S. illegally through Texas in January 2020 and was arrested by Border Patrol. An immigration judge issued a final removal order on Jan. 11, 2020, and he was deported to Mexico on April 14 of that year under the Trump administration. DHS says he later re-entered the country illegally at an unknown date and location.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on Uribe-Gonzalez at the Fairfield County Jail the day after his arrest, asking local officials to hold him for federal custody rather than release him.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement: “This illegal alien has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol after allegedly causing a car crash that killed 23-year-old Cameron Lyon in Ohio. Cameron had his whole life ahead of him, and that life was stolen by this criminal who never should have been in our country in the first place.”
Mullin said ICE is pressing Ohio officials to honor the detainer so Uribe-Gonzalez can be taken into federal custody and removed from the country.
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican, weighed in as well, calling the crash “an unconscionable tragedy because it was preventable.”
“This perpetrator shouldn’t have ever been in our country, let alone permitted to remain here.”
Ramaswamy added: “But he ended up driving drunk & killed an innocent young man in Ohio. I won’t tolerate this in our state. So devastating. It doesn’t have to be this way. I’ll fix it in Ohio next year & will go hard as necessary.”
A teacher remembered
Lyon had recently started his first teaching job at Crestline Exempted Schools, where a fundraiser for his family says he was well-loved by staff and students. A graduate of Otterbein University, he is being remembered by his community as a devoted son, brother and friend.
Lyon and Kerns had recently gotten engaged and had moved into a home that had been in Lyon’s family for generations, which they were renovating together, according to Earthly Pottery Co., where Kerns worked. “Their little lives were taking shape and we got a front row seat,” the business wrote. “We were texting earlier in the day about getting her studio all set up.” The shop added: “A family has lost a son, a brother, a classroom has lost their teacher, friends have lost their friend.”
Organizers of a fundraiser for Lyon’s family wrote, “We are devastated by this needless tragedy and miss him dearly.” A separate fundraiser, organized by Kerns’ aunt and uncle, said her family is standing by her through the “shock, pain and uncertainty” of the days since the crash, adding that “her world has been turned upside down, and the physical and emotional hardships ahead will be enormous.”
Local businesses have rallied to help. Millersport Coffee said it would donate a portion of weekend sales to Lyon’s family and Kerns’ medical costs, writing that “the entire Kerns family is like family to us.”
The crash remains under investigation.
