'He had many dreams': Boca High School graduate dies in I-95 crash hours after ceremony

Yahoo

21-05-2025

Just hours after celebrating his high school graduation, Hendry Aceituno Gudiño was one of the two people killed in a May 17 car crash on Interstate 95.
Gudiño, an 18-year-old from Riviera Beach, was on his way home from a celebratory dinner with his girlfriend and her father at the time of the crash, a close friend said. He was a former student at Boca Raton High School.
"That same day, Hendry graduated," family members wrote in a GoFundMe page created to cover funeral and relocation expenses. "An achievement he had worked hard for, with dedication and the deep desire to make his mother proud."
They said it was supposed to be one of the happiest days of Gudiño's life.
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According to the Florida Highway Patrol, at around 8:40 p.m. May 17, three people from Port St. Lucie were traveling north on I-95 in a 2002 Chevy Camaro.
The driver, a 52-year-old man whose name has not yet been released, lost control of the vehicle near the Martin Highway exit, traveled across all northbound lanes and struck a guardrail in the median. He and Gudiño were pronounced dead at the scene.
Gudiño's girlfriend, a 16-year-old, was sitting in the rear seat of the car. Paramedics drove her to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the crash report.
Roberto Hurtado, a classmate and close friend of Gudiño, organized the GoFundMe page. He and Gudiño met shortly after Gudiño had arrived from his home country of Venezuela in 2023. They bonded over Gudiño's time spent in Ecuador, where Hurtado, who was a grade ahead of him, is from.
"He became a brother to me," Hurtado said. "But life took him away from me."
Gudiño dreamed of graduating for his mother, Anielka, and his late grandmother.
"He had many, many dreams, many goals like everyone else," Hurtado said. But the first one was to have his own BMW. He'd tell his friends he was going to call it "Goldo's BMW."
"El Goldo" was the nickname friends had lovingly called him, Hurtado said.
"Hendry was a cheerful person, never short of laughter," Hurtado said. "Above all, he was a very loyal person, and whenever you needed to talk about a serious topic, he was there. He was a very mature person despite his age, and he didn't deserve for this to happen to him."
Hurtado said it took Gudiño's family and friends almost four hours to receive confirmation of his death, and that they heard it not from police, but from the staff at the hospital where Gudiño's girlfriend was sent.
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Boca Raton High School Principal Dr. Suzanne King addressed parents and faculty in an email May 19.
"It is with deep sadness that I share the news that one of our students has passed away unexpectedly over the weekend," King wrote. "On behalf of our school community, I will be reaching out to the student's family to express our heartfelt condolences and offer support."
The email stated counselors and school psychologists would be available on campus for students and staff.
"He will always live in our hearts," Hurtado said. "Even though he's not here physically, I know he's with us and we're trying our best to give him a good send-off. And, most of all, to never leave his mother alone since, here in the U.S., he only had her and us."
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [e-mail] and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca High grad dies in crash hours after ceremony: 'A brother to me'