Family of Modesto woman run over by landscaping crew seeks answers, compassion for homeless

Christine Chavez loved to joke around with her family and make funny videos, dreaming one day she would become famous.

Instead the 27-year-old Modesto woman was found dead last Saturday after being mowed over by a local landscaping crew cutting the grass at Beard Brook Park. The tragic end of Chavez’s life has her close-knit family reeling and asking for more care and compassion for homeless people.

“She didn’t deserve that for that reason, for being homeless,” said her older brother Randy Chavez, 33, of Arizona. “My sister was loved. The only thing she wanted was to be free.”

Family members said their grief has been compounded by the handling of the incident. After Chavez’s father was notified of his daughter’s death by Modesto police, Randy Chavez said the Modesto resident knew where to go despite not getting any more details from authorities.

His daughter had been transient the last three or four years and frequently hung out in Beard Brook Park, just south of downtown Modesto across Dry Creek from E.&J. Gallo Winery.

There, family members said they made a grisly discovery. Randy Chavez said the park still had pieces of human remains, scattered clothing and other matter related to the incident about 50 feet from the accident scene. He said the family found remains on each subsequent trip to the park.

“My mom had to pick up pieces of her. That’s not correct,” Randy Chavez said. “We want ordinances to change so it doesn’t happen again. Regardless if they are homeless they are still people and should be treated the same as any other people.”

Randy Chavez said his sister frequently stayed at the Salvation Army’s nearby Berberian Shelter on D Street, about a block north of Beard Brook Park. She spoke with an aunt and her sister the day before her death.

Family members said other homeless people in the park told them they saw Christine go to the creek to wash her hair, then come back to sleep on a hill near the playground and baseball field. About 20 minutes later, the mower came through.

The 12-acre park is frequented by unhoused people, and was once an authorized camping site for the area’s homeless. Recently, the park switched from city ownership to private ownership by E.&J. Gallo Winery. The city and internationally renowned winemaker have swapped land in the area, and the transfer was completed the day before Chavez’s death.

E.&J. Gallo Winery issues statement about incident in its park

Gallo spokeswoman Krista Noonan released a written statement about the incident and said the company would have no further comment.

“Gallo acquired the Beard Brook Park property in Modesto on Friday, July 7, 2023. On Saturday, July 8, 2023, a landscaping contractor was hired to perform weed abatement and fire prevention services. There was an accident at approximately 12:00 p.m. involving the contractor’s tractor and an individual who was not visible and laying in a tall, weeded area. The contractor immediately contacted the Modesto Police Department via 911, and upon arrival, MPD Officers declared the individual was deceased.

“Gallo and the landscaping contractor are fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities on this situation.

“Gallo expresses its sincere condolences to the family of the victim.”

Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear said that a crew with Grover Landscape Services was mowing the grass in Beard Brook Park when an employee riding a John Deere tractor with a pull-behind mower “noticed a body in the grass he had already made a pass through.”

Grover Landscape Services has operated in Modesto and the region for the past 50 years, and has contracted for various services with the city of Modesto for almost as long.

The company provided a written statement to The Modesto Bee Friday afternoon. It reads:

“At approximately noon on July 8, 2023, a Grover landscaping crew member, operating a tractor and pull-behind mower, was performing weed abatement and fire prevention services for our customer E. & J. Gallo Winery. In a dry, overgrown area, our operator discovered the body of a woman impacted by the pull-behind mower, at which time he contacted the Modesto Police Department. Grover is cooperating with law enforcement officials in their investigation. Out of respect for the on-going investigation, we cannot speculate as to the cause of or circumstances surrounding her death.

“We are deeply saddened by these events. Our hearts and sympathies go out to her friends and family. Grover is providing counseling services to the operator due to this traumatic experience.”

This is the second fatality in the city in recent years involving a crew cleaning up an area and inadvertently crushing or running over a homeless person. In August 2018, 32-year-old Shannon Bigley was crushed to death by heavy machinery operated by a Caltrans employee who was clearing a homeless encampment along Highway 99 south of Kansas Avenue in central Modesto.

Bigley was sleeping inside what the equipment operator thought was an unoccupied pile of trash.

Family of mowing victim describes her as funny prankster

According to Bear, Christine Chavez was not sleeping in a tent when she was run over. Bear noted there were tall weeds in the park, but did not know how tall. Chavez’s family members said the tallest weeds they saw in unmowed areas of the park were below knee level, and much of the ground cover was dry and parched.

The Chavez family, including her four siblings, has gathered in Modesto since Christine’s death. While her father moved to Modesto about five years ago, the other family members live largely in Arizona where they grew up. Two years later, Christine moved to Modesto to be closer to her father and would check in regularly for food, clothing and other necessities.

They said she would stay at home a couple days and leave again, but she would always check in and often video called her siblings and other family members. She also liked to sing and write poetry and dreamed of becoming famous, Randy Chavez said.

She even had her own TikTok channel, which includes two videos of her dancing, singing and performing skits last December. She had close to 300 followers, and her videos have more than 4,000 views each.

“She was a free soul. She was a great and pure soul and she made a lot of jokes,” Randy Chavez said. “She was always such a little prankster, she was goofy. We loved that about her personality.”

She was also a mother. Christine’s daughter, now 9, lives with her mother in Arizona. They both have traveled to Modesto following her death.

Relatives said they cannot plan any services or memorials until Christine’s body is released to them. A representative with the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Facility said it will be “several weeks” before a final cause of death will be released pending her autopsy.

Dez Martinez with the Fresno-based homeless advocacy group We Are Not Invisible spoke at the Tuesday Modesto City Council meeting about the incident. She has been in touch with the Chavez family and said she hopes the tragedy spurs the city to create safer spaces for unhoused individuals in the area.

“What I would advocate for right now in Modesto is a safe camping site, immediately. Safe camping for people who want care, who want help,” she said. “They need to be safe from being raped, safe from being murdered, safe from being beat up, safe from being run over. What if she had a safe camp to go to? Would she have to lay down right there to sleep?”

The Chavez family said it wants the Modesto police to investigate the driver of the mowing tractor, who has not been identified. Family members also want changes made to make it safer for homeless people in the region.

“My sister wanted to be famous. And hopefully we make her famous and change things for other people going through the same situation,” Randy Chavez said. “But it’s not the way we wanted her to be famous.”