Rio Rancho, N.M. — Rio Rancho is coming together to build back up after tragedy. Last week, several members of a young family died in a crash and others are still recovering from serious injuries.

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, two cars were driving on King Boulevard near Sheba Drive when they collided. By the time Rio Rancho Police arrived, both cars were on fire. In one vehicle, Craig and Meghan Miller from Rio Rancho were with their four children.

Police confirmed Tuesday that Craig Miller and his son, Craig Jr., died as a result of the crash. Their unborn child and their 11-month-old daughter Laila also lost their lives in the crash. According to police, their unborn child was 26 weeks along.

According to a GoFundMe set up for the family, Craig Jr. passed away from his injuries Thursday, Nov. 14.

At last check, Meghan Miller and her two other sons are still in the hospital. According to a GoFundMe set up for the other driver, he is also in the hospital with serious injuries and pulled through his latest surgery. 

There’s a memorial set up at the crash site, but there’s no shortage of support for both families in Rio Rancho, as dozens raised thousands of dollars in just a few hours.

“Before we even opened the doors, there was a line around the building,” Molly Martinez said. Molly and Armando Martinez own Turquoise Desert and Dulce River Bakery in Rio Rancho.

“We’ve done a good amount of fundraisers that haven’t reached this many people,” Armando Martinez said.

When they both heard the news, they were shocked.

“I really couldn’t believe it. I was just like, wow, what happened? How did this happen?” Armando said.

The Martinez’s spoke to their employee, whose daughter goes to school with one of the Miller children.  

“She was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got the contact of everybody, this, that and the other, and then she reached out to the family, and they wanted to include the other family as well,” Armando explained.

But the business owners knew they couldn’t pull off a fundraiser in two days without some help.

“We both agreed that this is a very devastating situation, and I’m a mom, and he’s a dad and his wife, you know, obviously a mom as well,” Chastity Bustos continued. “We wanted to give back to the community and help with whatever both families may need.”

Chastity Bustos owns Whiptail and is usually closed on Mondays, which worked out perfectly for the fundraiser.

“We opened at 2:00 [p.m.], and I want to say by 4, 4:30 we were sold out. So the community definitely came out in mass groves,” Bustos continued. “It makes me have faith in humanity again. It kind of gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling, and just knowing that I do live in a great community.”

Even after they ran out of food, people kept coming to drop off donations. They estimate they raised anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 and they’re not stopping.

“We had a bunch of businesses and people wanted to give us stuff to raffle off, and there were so many people at the start that we didn’t even have a spare table to set anything up at,” Molly said.

They’re moving ahead with the raffle at Dulce River Bakery. Which they’ll post about on their Facebook page.

For more information on the GoFundMe for the Miller family, click here, and click here for the Cisco’s page.