‘He sang with his heart.’ North Side student killed in crash had passion for mariachi.
When Benjamin Isaac Castañeda Floran would play the violin or sing as part of a mariachi band, his family and friends said you could get a sense of his heart.
The 17-year-old senior at Fort Worth’s North Side High School, who was a member of the school’s mariachi band as well as the local group Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano, performed with a love of the music that revealed itself in the warm grin that would invariably form on his face. His love of traditional mariachi music was rivaled by his love of his friends and of making someone else’s day, loved ones remembered Saturday. The two things were often connected.
Ben began playing the violin in a mariachi band in sixth grade but became passionate about the genre in high school, even playing with friends in restaurants or at weddings on the weekends, according to his mother, Juana Floran. She said he hoped to go to college next year to study to become a teacher of mariachi, passing on what has brought him joy and a direction in his life.
He lost that chance early Thanksgiving morning, when his life was cut short by a suspected drunk driver careening the wrong way on Northeast Loop 820 in North Richland Hills. A dog was also killed in the crash, which friends said was Ben’s months-old poodle, Jax.
Ben, a Burleson resident, was heading to AT&T Stadium around 5 a.m. to join his father’s family in tailgating in a crowded parking lot before the Dallas Cowboys took on the Buffalo Bills. That night, he was planning to join his friends from Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano for Thanksgiving dinner.
His mother, whose English is limited, spoke to the Star-Telegram on Saturday with the assistance of her brother, Ricardo Floran, who was translating.
“He would literally sing with his heart,” Ricardo said over the phone, with Juana’s voice audible in the background. “And he said he would feel all the notes from the music flowing through his body.”
Her mind was filled with memories Saturday, like how he would tell her in a slightly serious tone to wear something nice to his concert, or how he would come right to her if anything was wrong.
Those who knew Ben have been remembering and mourning the young man over the past couple of days, even if it doesn’t quite feel real yet. Ben, they said, was a scrawny, endlessly energetic and often goofy teenager who was excited about the future.
He had three sisters, and a half sister was on the way, Juana said. He had begun looking at colleges.
The woman accused of killing him, Noemi Martinez, 29, was booked into North Richland Hills Jail on Friday and charged with intoxication manslaughter, police said. She allegedly hit three vehicles in the crash. Ben was critically injured and later died of his injuries. A second motorist was injured, though his injuries were not life-threatening.
A vigil will be held for Ben at 6 p.m. Monday by the flag pole at North Side High School. Tributes have poured in for him on social media, and a GoFundMe page set up to help his family with funeral expenses had raised more than $14,000 as of Saturday night.
Some friends shared videos of Ben online. One of when he couldn’t contain his giddy excitement before a mariachi performance. Another of him playfully flexing a muscle for a friend in a classroom. One Snapchat video shows Ben leaping out of a bed in his full charro outfit and cheerfully miming the playing of a violin, and a time stamp shows it is 1:10 a.m.
“He was always happy, always smiling. And he was so funny,” said 18-year-old Jose Torres, a friend of Ben’s from North Side. “Every time when I looked at him, I saw someone that is not embarrassed of anything. He’s who he is, inside and out.”
Torres, who lives in Azle, met Ben the summer before freshman year, when the two were in mariachi camp. They became friends, bonding through their love of the music and even playing together at restaurants.
Two of Ben’s favorite songs were “Pegasso” and “El Diablo Suelto,” both lush instrumental songs that showcase the violin, Torres said.
“He loved a lot of orchestra,” he said.
Ben joined Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano about a year ago and quickly became close with the other members. Yessenia Barranco, the 21-year-old unofficial leader of the group, said Ben “wasn’t just a member of our group — he became family.”
He got to be especially close with her 16-year-old younger sister, and the two were building toward a possible relationship someday, Barranco said. Ben actually gave Jax, the poodle, to her sister as a gift, often taking care of the dog himself and considering it his “baby.”
Ben started spending a lot of time with their family, Barranco said, and she liked to joke with him, saying, “You’re going to be my brother-in-law; I know it.”
“He would just brighten up the whole house,” she said. “He brightened my sister’s life.”
The day before Thanksgiving, Ben was at their home helping them hang their Christmas lights. And it was their home where he was planning to spend his Thanksgiving night with Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano.
Barranco said her sister has been having a rough time since Ben’s unexpected death, feeling like it can’t be real. He was planning to ask her sister to prom, Barranco said.
They both hope to remember him for his big heart and the impact he had on others.
“Everyone he met ... he’d have us fall in love with him,” she said, “just with his smile.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 8:05 PM.
