Stockton mom lost 3 daughters 2019 dive boat fire, calls captain sentencing "disappointing."
LOS ANGELES -- A Stockton mother who lost three daughters in a Southern California dive boat fire in 2019 expressed relief about the captain's conviction but was disappointed in the sentence length.
Susana Solano Rosas was in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Thursday as Captain Jerry Boylan was sentenced for one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, also known as "seaman's manslaughter", for one of the deadliest maritime disasters in modern U.S. history.
Solano Rosas' three daughters — Nicole, Evan and Angela Quitaso — died when a fire broke out aboard the Conception, a 75-foot boat anchored off the shoreline of Santa Cruz Island. The sisters and their father, Michael Quitaso, were on a three-day scuba dive excursion.
The fatal fire started in the early morning on the last day of the trip. There were 39 people on the boat, but only Boylan and four crew members survived after they jumped off the boat. Thirty-three passengers and one crew member were asleep when the fire started.
During Boylan's trial, prosecutors said that those asleep below deck were still alive and needed help to escape.
"It brings back the feelings of betrayal that a man didn't do his job properly. If he would have, my children and 30 other people would still be alive," Solano Rosas said. "That's what it brings back. It brings back that I have no control. I couldn't do anything to make them safe."
She attended dozens of hearings, driving from Stockton to Los Angeles, over the years to be present in court. She said if there is an appeal, she will continue to show up in person for her family.
"I'm kind of disappointed in our justice system, you know? He was charged with only one count of manslaughter for the death of 34 people and the maximum that he can be charged by law is 10 years," Solano Rosas said. "I'm thankful that he will serve jail time, that he will be held accountable for him, and that he was convicted, and he is now a felon."
Solano Rosas told CBS13 about her family and keeping her daughters' legacy alive. She said a takeaway for her, and others, is that her daughters did not die doing what they loved: "They did not die diving. They did not die in the water. They didn't get killed by a shark. They died in a fire, and no one wants to die in a fire."
Michael, she said, was an emergency room nurse and had been a high school teacher who taught about health careers. She said he invested time in the community.
Her eldest daughter, Evan, followed in her father's footsteps and was an emergency room nurse with Kaiser. Solano Rosas said she was a leader in the union and a "compassionate human being."
Nicole was ready to go back to school. Solano Rosas said she loved people and the ocean.
Angela was a science teacher at Lincoln High School, teaching in the same community where she grew up.
"They were perfect human beings," Solano Rosas said. "I know they're not perfect, but they were perfectly imperfect, and they were just lovely people."
Boylan must surrender on July 11 to begin serving his sentence.
