When his daughter's first birthday started approaching, James Alvarez knew just who to call. The California dad had previously entrusted Grisel Leyva of X&V Photography with his daughter's newborn photo shoot and believed she was just the right person to capture her entrance into toddlerhood. Sadly, though, there was one person who would be noticeably absent on the big day: James' wife and Adalyn's mother, Yesenia Alvarez. The 23-year-old mom-to-be was killed by a drunken driver in 2020 when she was eight months pregnant with Adalyn. But luckily, Leyva was able to incorporate Yesenia's beautiful portrait into the photos as a way of ensuring that her loving memory lives on.
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James and Yesenia had been out for a summer stroll the evening she was killed.
It happened around 7:30 p.m. August 11, 2020, as the couple made their way down a residential street in Anaheim, California. At the time, they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little girl, who was due to be born on September 20. But in the blink of an eye, their dreams were shattered.
A Jeep driven by 40-year-old Courtney Pandolfi suddenly lost control and jumped the curb. Before they knew it, the SUV was on the sidewalk — headed directly toward them.
The Jeep slammed into Yesenia, narrowly missing her husband.
According to police, the young mother was rushed to UC Irvine Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency C-section to deliver her baby, named Adalyn Rose. Sadly, Yesenia's injuries were far too severe, and the mother was pronounced dead soon afterward.
In the wake of Yesenia's death, it was revealed that Pandolfi had been under the influence at the time of the accident and had multiple DUI arrests on her record. She was ultimately charged with felony counts of murder in connection with Yesenia's death, though she entered a plea of not guilty.
Pandolfi was given the maximum sentence of 15 years to life April 12, 2024, because of her three prior DUI convictions.
Following the tragic loss of his wife, James Alvarez did his best to remain strong.
The first-time father was seen encouraging his little girl to grow stronger by the day and to defy the odds that had suddenly stacked against her, according to an NBC Los Angeles interview at the time.
"Come on, you can do it, you're almost there," Alvarez reportedly told Adalyn as she recovered in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. "I want my daughter to have the best life. And anything I can do to fulfill that, I'm going to do it."
Albarez stayed by his daughter's bedside throughout her hospital stay and was overjoyed when she was finally cleared to come home in late August 2020. According to reports, he's remained a devoted, single dad ever since.
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Two months later, he scheduled her newborn photo shoot, which was bittersweet for more than a few reasons.
It took place on September 23, 2020, just three days after the little girl's original due date. And the reason James specifically chose Leyva as the photographer? Turns out she had photographed Yesenia for a maternity shoot just one month before her death.
It was for that reason baby Adalyn could be seen holding a photo of her late mother in a flowing maternity dress — an image that quickly went viral after Leyva shared it on her Facebook page.
Many of the images from that newborn shoot quickly went viral around the world, as the story of Yesenia's death made headlines.
"James and I had a plan of poses we wanted to capture and our goal was to honor Yesenia in each pose," Leyva told CafeMom at the time. "We did that by using her makeup (she was going to school for cosmetology), wedding veil, her picture, favorite flowers, favorite blanket, and using pink for some photos for the color of her maternity dress."
This time around, Leyva put just as much care into planning the photos for Adalyn's first birthday.
"I wanted to create something special for Adalyn and James for Adalyn’s first birthday and also for Yesenia’s one-year anniversary of her passing," Leyva told CafeMom at the time.
So she decided to channel that original maternity shoot.
"I decided to photograph Adalyn’s photos at the same park and exact same spots that I had photographed Yesenia and James in 2020," the photographer explained.
James even wore the same outfit that he'd worn during the maternity shoot, and Adalyn was intentionally dressed all in pink — just like her mama.
The photos are once again beautiful — and sadly, bittersweet.
But they too went viral, as many of the people who've followed Yesenia's story in the headlines were happy to see her daughter is now happy, healthy, and thriving.
The same can be said of her husband James, who has clearly taken to his role as "Dad" even if he'd never planned to do it alone.
According to KRIS-TV, James said he's squarely focused on trying to be the best father he can be, in hopes of making his wife proud. And if these newest photos are any indication, it seems he's doing just that.
