Carlos Espinoza Prado’s mother answered a knock on her son’s mobile home near Greeley on Wednesday morning. Maria Prado opened the door, wearing her hair in a half-done bun and a tired look on her face, appearing not to have slept.
She was connected to two of six people who died at Prospect Valley Dairy Farm in Keenesburg on Aug. 20 — five Hispanic men and one 17-year-old Hispanic boy — with little information surfacing since. Prado is the former partner of the eldest victim, Alejandro Espinoza, in addition to being the mother of Carlos, who was 29.
Opening the door only halfway, she said in Spanish that the family has not learned any news beyond what has been reported in the media, pertaining to compensation or the accident itself, wiping her eyes as she spoke.
She added that the family has been in contact with a lawyer, but she declined to name the lawyer or firm.
“We have nothing else to say because we do not know what happened either,” Prado said in Spanish. “We are still waiting. All the families.”
The 911 call
As families wait for results of both an OSHA study and a toxicology report, a recording of a 45-minute 911 call sheds a little more information on the tragedy than Prado said she has received.
The call starts with silence, then a few clicks and tones, and then a 911 operator can be heard speaking with a person who was most likely an EMT dispatcher, before the operator knows the extent of the tragedy: “It's gonna be a male party in a confined space. He's passed out. It's ... a pipe burst and filled up a pit. One party was able to get out and one is still entrapped.”
After a long pause, the operator says, addressing emergency service workers: “They’re unable to get to the patient due to gas. Gas masks will be needed.”
Then there’s another long pause, and her voice takes on an increasingly frantic tone as the number of victims rises: “We’re now being advised there might be three patients,” she says despairingly.
The same man’s voice then comes on, saying that ambulances are on their way to the dairy farm. “There’s a male unable to walk,” the woman says after more long pauses.
After another long silence, his voice returns; this time, he can be heard saying, “So confirm, number of patients is five,” and a woman responds to that, saying that she’s now trying to get a second ambulance headed to the dairy.
At about 13 minutes into the call, a male voice first mentions the depth at which their bodies are located: “You have confirmed five reported unconscious victims approximately 12 feet down, with possible high levels of H2S and unknown gases.”
The woman’s voice returns and says a medivac will take about 20 minutes to arrive. After a 10-minute pause, at about 25 minutes into the call, a male EMT can be heard, remaining somewhat neutral in tone, stating additional bad news that now makes the helicopter unnecessary.
“Apologies,” he says. “We notify, uh, coroner's office. Looks like we have five to confirm code black. And you can go ahead and stand down the chopper.” He asks for a victims' advocate at that point. Although the dispatcher never mentioned a sixth victim, Weld County officials soon confirmed that there were six victims in all. All six victims were dead.
The victims
The Weld County Coroner's Office identified them as:
- Oscar Espinoza Leos, 17, of Nunn
- Carlos Espinoza Prado, 29, of Evans
- Noe Montanez Casanas, 32, of Keenesburg
- Jorge Sanchez Pena, 36, of Greeley
- Ricardo Gomez Galvan, 40, of Keenesburg
- Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, 50, of Nunn
Undated photo of Oscar Espinoza Leos, 17, who was the youngest of the six victims killed in an accidental gas exposure at Prospect Valley Dairy in Weld County on Aug. 20, 2025. 
Carlos Espinoza Prado was 29 and lived in Evans when he was killed August 20 at a dairy in Keenesburg. 
Undated photo of Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, 50, who was the oldest of the six victims killed in an accidental gas exposure at Prospect Valley Dairy in Weld County on Aug. 20, 2025.
Some families held funeral services and cremations in Greeley last month.
Carlos Espinoza Prado, his father, Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, and his brother, Oscar Espinoza Leos, were believed to have been cremated in Greeley in early September, according to a staffer at Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley.
A mass for Espinoza Cruz and Espinoza Leos was held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Sept. 2, according to their obituaries.
Another victim, Jorge Sanchez Pena, was buried in the Linn Grove cemetery after a graveside service in Greeley on Sept. 2, according to his obituary. It also stated that he was a husband and father who liked to ride his horse, Luna, spend time with family and friends, and help other people.
A visit to his gravesite this week confirmed his burial. He lies in a cemetery of many thousand graves; his was surrounded by two flower bouquets. The grass atop the grave was a lighter color than that of the rest of the cemetery, showing the earth had recently been dug into.
A makeshift memorial was set up outside the home of one, if not two, of the six men who died in the dairy farm tragedy on August 20. In front of the truck were candles and a rosary was hung from the grille. 
Jorge Sanchez Pena is buried in Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley.
A fundraiser to cover the funeral service costs for the fifth victim, Noe Montanez Casanas, 32, is still open.
No obituary was available online for him, or the sixth victim, Ricardo Gomez Galvan, 40.
All of the Espinoza family members were from Mexico, except the youngest victim, Oscar Espinoza Leos, who was born in Greeley. He was believed to be interning at the dairy, learning alongside his father.
Espinoza Prado’s obituary was published on the website of the Altogether Funeral Home. The obituaries for Espinoza Cruz and Espinoza Leos were published on the website for the Lighthouse Family Mortuary.
In the obituaries, the three men are described as hard-working, dedicated to their families, and “full of life.” Espinoza Prado loved soccer and working on his car and truck.
Espinoza Cruz, who had just turned 50 when the accident happened, was the father of two of the victims and his obituary said that he had “fulfilled his dream of being a rancher, raising horses and sheep on his own land.”
His younger son, Espinoza Leos, was a senior at Highland High School in Ault and was also studying to become a barber at a local hair salon, according to his obituary. It also stated that he loved horses and was especially fond of taking care of his own horse, Bonita.
The toxicology report should be available in about a month, according to Weld County Deputy Chief Coroner Jolene Weiner. A call to OSHA to see if the government shutdown would delay its investigation was not returned.
