'The Best The World Had To Offer': Family Remembers Man Killed In Long Beach Crash As Loving Father

LONG BEACH, CA — The second weekend of July was supposed to be one filled with celebration for Omar Tovar's family.

It was his son's birthday that week, so he went to his mother's house in Long Beach on Friday, July 11, to cut a cake and share in the festivities. On Saturday, he took his kid to get a haircut and visited his mom to surprise her with their new look before taking them to an amusement park to continue the birthday celebration. Before saying goodbye, he hugged and kissed her, then told her he'd visit on Sunday to catch up with his father — a weekly occurrence.

"Mom, I have to go because I'm taking the kids out," Senaida Ramirez recalls her son telling her. "But I never saw him again."

Police say the 36-year-old was crossing the street at Pacific Coast Highway, west of Golden Avenue, the afternoon of July 13, when he was struck by a car. He died at the scene.

For more than 24 hours, nobody knew where Tovar was, his family said. They thought maybe he had fallen asleep at a friend's house. They kept calling and calling his phone. No one answered.

As his family grew more worried, they began calling the police, hospitals and searching his favorite hangout spots to no avail. Finally, after several attempts to locate him, an officer suggested they call the morgue.

"I was hoping it wasn't true," Ramirez told Patch. "I was hoping they were lying to me, that it wasn't him. I still had hope that he would arrive at my house or that he was at a hospital, sick or hurt."

"I know now that's impossible."

'The Best The World Had To Offer'

Tovar was born in Houston, Texas, on April 27, 1989 — the second eldest of six siblings.

Ramirez says the family moved to Long Beach when Tovar was four.

Tovar was a huge soccer fan who rooted for the Mexican soccer club America and was also a Green Bay Packers fan, his family said.

Most days, when those teams were playing, it was almost a ritual to see Tovar at his parents' house watching the games with his father.

"He was always ready to watch the games," Ramirez recalls. "He loved being with his dad."

His favorite dish was "salsa de huevo," an egg recipe that Ramirez says was taught to her by her mom.

Tovar always asked his mom for that dish, whether it was a regular day or his birthday, his family said — that or red enchiladas, Ramirez said.

Growing up, he was humble, loving, hardworking and always put others first, his mother said. He started working as a teen, picking up jobs at McDonald's and El Pollo Loco. Later, he worked as a dental assistant and then in construction with his father.

There's one particular memory of Tovar, however, that Ramirez holds deep in her heart.

Her husband hurt his back one day at work and was bedridden, Ramirez said. The family had no money coming in and the fridge grew bare.

Tovar, 16 and working at El Pollo Loco at the time, took notice. During his lunch shift, he ran back home holding two bags filled with chicken, rice, beans and tortillas.

"How did you manage to get this food?" Ramirez asked her son.

"I asked the manager if he could give me a discount and take what I owe out of my check," Ramirez recalls Tovar telling her.

"You guys eat," Tovar told her. "I need to go back to work. My break is almost over, and I don't want to get fired."

That, Ramirez said, was one of many examples of her son's selflessness and humility.

"I could spend an entire lifetime and never finish talking about my son," Ramirez said. "He was the best the world had to offer."

A Family Man

Tovar and his girlfriend, Jenifer Alvarez, first locked eyes at a party 16 years ago.

"I just seen him from across the room," Alvarez said. "I don't know what it was, but something caught my eye."

She made the first move and walked over to him. But it wasn't until after the party, when they reconnected on social media, that their relationship began to blossom.

"He became my best friend," Alvarez said. "He was the only person I could talk to about anything and feel no judgment."

Together, the couple raised five kids, and each one adored Tovar, Alvarez said. Tovar was unequivocally the "good cop," a jokester, who took the kids to the park, played with them and made them laugh while she played the role of "bad cop" with the kids, having to hand down punishments and be the "mean one," according to Alvarez.

"For him, it was all fun and games," Alvarez said. "He was the best father they could ever have."

Alvarez last saw Tovar early Sunday afternoon. They were washing their cars when Tovar got a call from a friend asking to hang out.

Tovar obliged and headed over to his friend's house. Alvarez says she didn't think much when Tovar didn't come home that afternoon.

He'd done that before, she said, but he'd usually come back at night or before he had to drop his kids off at his mother's house before work.

As the evening came and went, Tovar was nowhere to be found, Alvarez said.

She'd spent that night worried and looking out the window, hoping he'd arrived and maybe decided to sleep in his car.

When he didn't return the next day, she dropped her kids off at Tovar's parents' house and went to work. All day, Alvarez said, she spammed Tovar's phone. It rang each time, but nobody ever picked up.

"This is not like him," Alvarez remembers thinking at the time. "He always calls back or texts back."

After work, she drove around the neighborhood where Tovar's friend lived, Alvarez said. That's when she found his car, but no sign of Tovar.

It was weird, she thought, but she didn't want to lose hope.

Then, she got a call from Tovar's sister asking her to meet at his parents' home.

His sister had called the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office, which confirmed Tovar had been fatally struck in Long Beach the day before.

"Everyone was in disbelief," Alvarez said. "It just broke my heart."

Abraham Moreno, Tovar's brother-in-law, says the family is still waiting to get more information about the fatal crash. So far, they only know what they've read from news reports — that police say the driver involved in the crash wasn't speeding, impaired or distracted when they struck Tovar.

"None of this makes any sense," Moreno said.

Searching For Answers

Just a month before Tovar's death, the 36-year-old had visited his parents' to spend some time with his father, Ramirez said.

Tovar had just opened a beer when he got up from a chair and hugged his mother hard, his family recalls.

Ramirez said she asked him what was wrong, and Tovar replied, with tears in his eyes: "Take care of yourself, don't let anything happen to you, because if something happened to you, I'd want to die."

He kept repeating it, Ramirez said. But she told him to stop — that she would always take care of herself for her kids and that his own children needed him.

"Now I don't even know if I'm alive," Ramirez said. "I have so many questions. I ask myself why this happened. I want to know so many things, but nobody can give me any answers."

"In my heart and my head, I tell myself, I would've preferred this happened to me, not my son."

Tovar's family has started a fundraiser to help with the cost of funeral services and support his children. So far, they've raised $11,297 out of their $20,000 goal. To help or donate, click here.