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Mom Killed in Harlem Crash Was an 'Angel,' Family Says

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | February 7, 2013 12:06pm 

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Heartbroken friends and relatives of a mother of four who was killed in a car accident in Harlem remembered her as an "angel" Thursday in her Washington Heights home.

Litseth Ventura, 46, was sitting in the passenger seat of a car Wednesday afternoon when it was hit by a van on West 135th Street at Broadway, police said.

Ventura, who has two sons and two daughters, was rushed to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center where she was pronounced dead, cops said.

Her weeping husband, Nelson Gonzalez, was consoled by the couple's 8-year-old son, who had not yet been told of his mom's death.

"Daddy, calm down," said little Guliany, according to a family friend. "Mommy will come back tomorrow. Mommy will be alright."

The 2:15 p.m. accident left the driver of the car and two young backseat passengers injured, police said. A 44-year-old pedestrian was also hurt.

All of the victims were taken to Harlem Hospital and are expected to survive, police said.

The driver of the van, Wislairs Mentor, 36, was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle without a license, police said.

"He didn't have a license and now he's brought our family horror,"  said Gonzalez.

"She was an angel. There's no other woman like her. It breaks my heart."

Originally from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Ventura immigrated to the United States in 2002 and made a living cleaning apartments around the city.

She has a 23-year-old son, two daughters, ages 15 and 13, in the Santo Domingo, and her youngest, Guliany.

"To me, she was the best mom," said her eldest son, Jorge Luis Vargas. "She was always happy, always with a smile."

Ventura loved cooking and watching Telemundo, particularly the court show, Caso Cerrado, friends said.

"She had a beautiful life," said family friend Milton Moreno. "She was a beautiful person. She was never angry."

Ventura's cash-strapped family, want to bury her in the Dominican Republic.