A woman who tweeted "2 Drunk 2 Care" just minutes before a deadly head-on collision that killed two on the Sawgrass Expressway pleaded guilty in South Florida Wednesday.
"It's hard to even look at you because of all the pain that I caused," Kayla Mendoza said in an emotional plea to the victims' families in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom.
Mendoza pleaded guilty to two charges of DUI manslaughter in the November 2013 deaths of Kaitlyn Ferrante and her best friend Marisa Catronio, both 21 at the time.
As Mendoza begged for forgiveness for what she called a "stupid mistake" that impacted all of their lives, the brother of one of the victims turned his back on her.
"It breaks my heart to know that I have broken your hearts and there is nothing at all that can change it and it's my fault," Mendoza said. "One mistake changed all of our lives, one stupid mistake and I am sorry."
The parents of Ferrante and Catronio didn't speak after Wednesday's hearing, but one of their attorneys did.
"It was nice for them to hear that they are not the only ones living in the pain and the hell that they are living in, but it does not make them feel better and it does not bring the girls back," Jamie Finizio Bascombe said.
Authorities alleged that Mendoza downed two large fish bowl-sized margaritas earlier that evening and tweeted "2 Drunk 2 Care" just minutes before the crash.
The Florida Highway Patrol’s investigative report, released last June, says that Mendoza, 20 at the time, drove her white Hyundai the wrong way on the Sawgrass Expressway and slammed into a red car driven by Kaitlyn Ferrante and her best friend Marisa Catronio.
Both Ferrante and Catronio, who were 21 at the time, were killed. Mendoza was also seriously injured in the accident, and had to be wheeled into the courtroom.
Mendoza's fiancé, Javier Reyes, claimed that the now-infamous tweet was actually directed at him.
On the night of the crash, Mendoza had gone out to a Coral Springs bar after work with her colleagues from a T-Mobile store. Mendoza's supervisor claimed she told the bar she was underage, yet was still served the drinks, which she paid for with her credit card.
Her boss, Marcelo Bruzzo, told investigators that he took Mendoza to her car and that she appeared to be “okay.” Police say in the next few minutes, she tweeted “2 Drunk 2 Care.”
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It was later discovered that Mendoza was driving with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, according to police.
Mendoza faces a maximum of 30 years in prison at sentencing.
This is a developing story. Stay with NBC 6 South Florida for updates.
