FORT MYERS – A Fort Lauderdale man has been charged with DUI manslaughter in connection to a Jan. 29, 2023 head-on crash on US 27 that took four lives.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol report, the two-vehicle crash occurred on US 27, Glades County. The at-fault vehicle was traveling the wrong way on US 27, which led to a head-on collision. The crash resulted in four fatalities (one of which was an unborn child) and a serious injury. The driver of the at fault vehicle has a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.195.

On June 28, Marco Antonio Lucena Penaloz, 37, of Fort Lauderdale, was medically cleared from Gulf Coast Hospital and placed under arrest by the Traffic Homicide Division of the Florida Highway Patrol for four counts of DUI Manslaughter. He was booked into the Lee County Jail.

The FHP accident report states the accident happened at 1:14 a.m. on Jan. 29 on US 27 south of County Road 773.

A Lexus SUV was traveling north, on the US 27 southbound lanes (wrong way), south of County Road 773.

A Jeep Compass was traveling south on US 27, south of County Road 773, in the left lane.

The front of SUV collided with the front of the Jeep. The Jeep overturned and erupted in flames.

The driver of the Jeep, a 25-year-old Key West man, and passenger, a 22-year-old pregnant woman from Big Pine Key, died in the crash. 

Penaloz, the driver of the SUV was seriously injured. The 28-year-old female passenger in the SUV died at the scene.