Camarillo teen killed in highway crash
The following article, originally printed in part last week, is being reprinted in its entirety.
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

MUCH LOVED- Desiree Mooney, 18, left, sits with her mother, Diana Hatcher, for a recent photograph.

Diana Hatcher describes her daughter's laugh as "contagious." It was the laugh of a Camarillo teenager who, her mom said, loved going to the beach, spending time with her family and friends, and playing with her dog Lola.

"I will most remember her smile and her contagious laugh," Hatcher said of her 18-year-old daughter, Desiree Mooney, who was killed Sun., April 20 when the car she was driving veered off a Ventura highway and overturned.

According to California Highway Patrol Officer Shawna Davison, three male passengers were ejected from the car and suffered major injuries.

The passengers, according to the CHP, were not wearing seatbelts.

They were taken to Community Memorial Hospital and Ventura County Medical Center with major injuries.

Around 6:40 p.m. on April 20, Mooney was driving a Toyota Camry in the southbound lane of the 33 Highway south of Stanley Avenue at a high speed when she reportedly lost control of the vehicle, drove off the highway into a dirt embankment and flipped the car, the CHP reported.

The three injured in the wreck are Christopher Hale, a 23-year-old Camarillo man; 25-year-old Jeremy Hale of Fillmore; and an unnamed 17-year-old from Ventura.

Hatcher said her daughter was wearing a seatbelt, and a recent medical report showed alcohol was not a factor in the crash.

Davison said the accident is still under investigation.

Hatcher said she and her family moved from Ventura to Camarillo in 2007.

Mooney was a former student at Buena High School in Ventura and was working on her high school diploma through an independent study program.

While at Buena, Mooney was a member of the color guard squad.

A member of Buena's marching band, Darianne Mooney, 16, said she fondly remembers sitting next to her sister on a return flight back from Spain following an overseas trip with the high school's band and color guard squad.

Darianne said she and her sister were exhausted after the long flight and were "cracking each other up" by making up names for the places they could see from the plane's window.

Both Darianne and her mom said Mooney had a "great sense of humor."

Described as "very hardworking" by her mother, Mooney had worked for the past three years at Tat Tropical Illusion fish store in Ventura.

Hatcher said Mooney was a teen with a soft spot for those less fortunate than her, and she often bought meals for the homeless and would regularly stop to talk with them.

Mooney's mother also said her daughter enjoyed the time she spent with her older sister, 20-year-old Denise Mooney, while the two were on Buena's color guard squad together, as well as the many hours spent with her best friend, Ashlie Jackson.

Jim Hatcher, Mooney's stepfather, said he best remembers the one-on-one time he spent with his daughter.

A fund has been established in Mooney's name at Ventura County Federal Credit Union in Ventura.