Six people were killed and two others injured Sunday night in Napa County when a minivan veered off the road and slammed into a tree, authorities said.
The driver, later arrested on suspicion of DUI and murder, was among the survivors, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP and Napa County Sheriff’s deputies responded about 5:50 p.m. to the single-vehicle crash off Pope Valley Road north of Howell Mountain Road. Investigators said the Toyota Sienna XLE had been heading north when it left the rural two-lane road for unknown reasons. Press Democrat photojournalists at the scene noted sharp skid marks from the events leading up to the collision.
Six passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The Napa County Coroner’s Office will release their names once families are notified.
The driver, Norberto Celerino Villalva, 53, of Stockton, and another passenger suffered major injuries and were flown to trauma centers. Both remained hospitalized as of Monday morning, CHP-Golden Gate Sgt. Andrew Barclay said, and Celerino will be booked into the Napa County jail without bail once released.
Court records show Celerino has an extensive history of criminal cases in San Joaquin County, including multiple DUI convictions. On Oct. 16, 2024, he pleaded guilty there to a misdemeanor DUI with a high blood alcohol content and admitted to a prior DUI conviction from 2020. In exchange, a separate charge of driving on a suspended license was dismissed.
He was also in custody just last week in San Joaquin County on a domestic violence case. On Sept. 3, 2025, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced in that matter. At the time, he was still on probation for the 2024 DUI conviction, and the court reinstated the probation term. Celerino was released to report Sept. 17 to the county’s Alternative Work Program to serve the balance of his sentence.
Prosecutors have brought three DUI cases against Celerino — in 2010, 2020 and 2024 — and he remains on probation in both the domestic violence case and the 2024 DUI case.
The Napa County District Attorney’s Office had not yet received the case Monday, according to spokesperson Carlos Villatoro.
Pope Valley Road, lined with trees and vineyards, was shut down until about 2:20 a.m. Monday as investigators combed through the wreckage. Authorities are still reviewing the van’s speed and whether occupants were wearing seatbelts.
Sunday’s wreck was the latest in a string of fatal crashes in Napa County this year where drivers have faced serious charges — often DUI and sometimes even murder.
Just seven weeks earlier, a 10-year-old boy, Aidan Kennedy, was killed on the same stretch of Pope Valley Road, about 2 miles south of Sunday’s crash site. Investigators said his father, Aaron Brian Kennedy Alvarez, 35, was intoxicated when he drove head-on into another vehicle. Kennedy Alvarez survived with major injuries but was later charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, child endangerment and multiple DUI felonies. Court records also list an unusual allegation — unlawful possession of a boobytrap device. He had pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return to court Sept. 24.
The toll has not been limited to Pope Valley. In March, two children — Damian Montanez, 10, and his sister Aaliyah, 9 — were killed when their mother, Yesica Barajas, 31, lost control of her car on a Highway 29 offramp and struck a tree. Barajas was first charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter; prosecutors upgraded the case in July to two murder counts. She also faces vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and multiple counts of child abuse. Her next court appearance is set for Sept. 16.
For Pope Valley residents, Sunday’s crash was a jarring disruption on an otherwise quiet rural road.
SueVon Daniels, secretary for Pope Valley Union Elementary District School, was driving the road around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when she was stopped for about half an hour before authorities told her to turn back. The school, located near the crash site, was not affected by the closure the next morning, she said.
Daniels, who drives the road often, said she doesn’t consider it especially dangerous.