FUNDRAISER FOR CREST SENIOR INJURED BY TRASH TRUCK

Cedar Fire survivor and widow of famed pilot adventurer needs community’s help

By Miriam Raftery

August 2, 2023  (Crest) – Leysl  Muñoz, 87, was well-known to residents in rural Crest, where she regularly drove around in her golf cart with her Burmese Mountain Dog, Rebby.  But on Friday, July 28, she was “critically injured when an EDCO trash truck backed over her while she was sitting in her golf cart,” according to a GoFundMe post set up by her neighbor, Rich Robinson.

“Leysl is confronting a long and difficult road to get back on her feet,” he states. “This GoFundMe effort is being established by her East County friends who want to help her get back on her feet and in a new golf car with Rebby.

Muñoz suffered compound fractures in her left arm and needed skin grafts on her arm, with skin from her leg, ECM has learned.

ECM has reached out to EDCO for comment, but has not yet received a response.

Christina Seebold wrote about Leysl and her husband, Francisco Muñoz, for the Crest Sun years ago. “They are my neighbors and he was a pilot,” she told ECM.

In that article, she described the couple’s adventuresome life. Francisco founded Baja Airlines, flying clients including the president of Mexico, movie stars, fishermen, whale watchers  and others who wanted an adventure off the beaten track.  One of his frequent passengers was Erle Stanley Gardener, the author who created the Perry Mason character. The Reader once described him as “Gardner’s Daredevil Companion.” Some of their adventures are recounted in Gardener’s book, ”Off the Beaten Track in Baja.” You can also read more in “Hovering Over Baja” and ”Hunting the Desert Whale,” which are available at the County library.

Seebold described Leysl and Francisco Muñoz going on hiking tours and horseback rides in Baja in their youth.

In 2003, the couple suffered tragedy when they lost their home in the Cedar Fire which devastated the community of Crest, but they were among the first to rebuild, rising from the ashes. But Francisco developed Parkinson’s disease and died in 2006.

Seebold wrote, ”Sometimes we forget that a community is about more than a name and a place on a map…The spirit of the residents gives each place a unique identity.”

Leysl Muñoz is one of those spirited residents, who after living a life filled with adventure, now needs help from the community to regain her health and mobility.

Photo,left:  Victim's crushed golf cart

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