Relatives described Thelma Candelaria as a devoted caregiver whose final morning began with the exercise routine she had embraced.
ELOY, Ariz. — The family of Thelma Candelaria is remembering the 47-year-old caregiver and mother after her routine morning run ended in a fatal collision with a Union Pacific train near an Eloy railroad crossing.
Candelaria died shortly after 6 a.m. Oct. 15 near Sunshine Boulevard and Frontier Street, according to the Eloy Police Department. Her family reported her missing when she did not return from her run. Police later said a train engineer had seen her between two railroad tracks, sounded the horn and activated emergency braking before the train struck her.
In the days after her death, relatives described a woman who had been focused on her family, her health and her faith. Her daughter, Alaisha Candelaria, told Arizona’s Family that videos recorded during her mother’s final run showed her smiling, listening to music and enjoying the morning before the fatal encounter at the tracks.
Alaisha Candelaria said she reviewed her mother’s recordings along with nearby surveillance video while trying to understand what happened. She said her mother appeared to be recording one passing train when another approached from the opposite direction on a separate track. She believes her mother never saw the second train coming.
Police have confirmed that two trains were in the area and that both sounded their horns. Authorities said the engineer of the train that struck Candelaria also activated the emergency braking system after seeing her between the tracks. Investigators have not issued a final finding on why she did not respond to the warnings.
Her daughter said Candelaria had been wearing noise-canceling headphones during the run and suggested the headphones and the noise from the other train may have prevented her from recognizing the danger. That remains the family’s explanation rather than an official police conclusion. Authorities have said the circumstances surrounding the collision remain under investigation.
Family accounts also highlighted changes Candelaria had been making shortly before her death. Arizona’s Family reported that she had been baptized less than a week before the collision. Her daughter described the period as a positive one for her mother, with exercise and faith taking on a larger role in her life.
Reports differ on how many children Candelaria had. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that she left behind seven children, while Arizona’s Family reported that she was a mother of eight. The available police information does not settle the difference. Both reports describe a large family now preparing to move forward without her, and relatives have organized financial assistance for funeral expenses and family needs.
The family’s memories have become part of a broader effort to understand Candelaria’s final morning without getting ahead of the official investigation. Police have not indicated that she intended to enter the path of a train, and no final cause explaining her actions near the tracks has been announced. The railroad crossing was closed during the emergency response and later reopened.
Eloy police continue to investigate the fatal collision. No criminal wrongdoing has been announced, and authorities have not released a final investigative report. For Candelaria’s family, the unanswered questions now accompany memories of a mother and caregiver whose final recorded moments showed what relatives described as an ordinary morning run before an unexpected tragedy.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.