Victim in suspected DUI crash in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving ID’d

Monique Prado went out Thursday morning to get coffee at Starbucks ahead of preparing a Thanksgiving meal at her mother’s Las Vegas home.

She never came back.

Family members have identified Prado as the victim of a suspected DUI crash that happened on Thanksgiving in southwest Las Vegas.

Prado, a 32-year-old single mother of three children who lived in Victorville, California, died at the scene Thursday in the area of South Durango Drive and West Russell Road. Her 12-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle and had minor injuries from the crash.

Prado came to Las Vegas on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Her mother, Norma Kennedy, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday that she doesn’t want people to know her daughter as a victim but wants to “give her a voice.”

“She had a large presence,” Kennedy said. “What’s so amazing is the outpouring of friends I didn’t even know she had.”

Prado’s family members created a GoFundMe page to benefit her children. As of Saturday afternoon, $12,465 had been raised toward a $25,000 goal.

Nathaniel Tavers Postelle III, 27, of Las Vegas, is at the Clark County Detention Center on charges of DUI resulting in death and possession of a controlled substance in connection with the crash, according to jail and court records. He made his first court appearance Friday in Las Vegas Justice Court, where a judge set his bail at $250,000.

Police said they suspect Postelle was impaired at the time of the crash and ran a red light at an intersection. He had minor head injuries and was taken to University Medical Center before being booked into jail.

Prado, who grew up in Las Vegas and graduated from Rancho High School, moved to Victorville several years ago and planted roots there, Kennedy said. .

‘She loved those kids’

Prado, a hairstylist, had only one day off, Thursday, for the Thanksgiving holiday, Kennedy said. She got off work early Wednesday and drove to Las Vegas.

Kennedy spent Wednesday with Prado and her children. They went to a movie theater to see “Frozen 2.”

On Thursday, they woke up, and Prado told Kennedy she was going to get coffee before they started to prepare a Thanksgiving meal.

Kennedy said she later got a text message from her 12-year-old granddaughter saying they had gotten lost and needed her address. Then, she didn’t hear anything.

“They had been gone for a couple of hours,” Kennedy said. “I was worried because coffee doesn’t take that long.”

She received a phone call from University Medical Center saying her granddaughter was at the hospital. Kennedy said she and her son went to the hospital, and for about two hours, she didn’t know what had happened.

Kennedy said her granddaughter had been slightly injured by the impact from the seat belt and airbag and was released from the hospital the same day. She said her granddaughter now has “aches and pains” and is home with her father.

Kennedy said her other two grandchildren, ages 6 and 4, were with her on Thanksgiving. A family member from California offered to take the children for the week while Kennedy makes funeral arrangements.

“I believe it will be on me to adopt the kids,” she said about her two youngest grandchildren, who have a different father than the 12-year-old. “They didn’t have anyone else.”

Kennedy described her daughter as loud, kind, compassionate, determined and strong. She said Prado overcame obstacles when she left Las Vegas to restart her life in Victorville and made a phenomenal transformation.

Prado loved going to the movies and listening to music and was artistic, Kennedy said.

She was an excellent student who earned A’s in her classes, Kennedy said, adding that Prado had been awarded a college scholarship and wanted to become a nurse. She was accepted into UNLV’s nursing program before deciding she wanted to become a hairstylist.

Prado struggled to make ends meet, but was devoted to her children, Kennedy said. “She loved those kids with everything she had.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.