Ceres Woman Killed By Falling Tree While Working At Yosemite National Park

CERES (CBS13) — Friends and family mourned the loss of a Ceres woman after a tragic accident in Yosemite over the weekend.  The 20-year-old died on Sunday after being hit by a falling tree at work.

"She was everybody's friend," said TreVaughn Roach-Carter, a former classmate of Destiny's. "There's not one person that could think of that had a bad thing to say about her."

Destiny Borges graduated from Ceres High School in 2015. Her friends told CBS13 she made friends easily and was very active in the school's theater department.

"She was the best kind of person you could hope to know," Roach-Carter said.  "She was always happy and smiling, funny."

"She always made everybody feel happy and loved and cared for," said Nadaa Ali, a friend of Destiny's.

When her friends first heard about the accident, they didn't believe it.

"I thought she was hurt but okay and then I got the second call and I knew it was real," Roach-Carter said.

Borges was working in a retail job for a company contracted by Aramark Yosemite Hospitality.  She was in an area of the park called Half Dome Village when she was hit and killed by a falling tree.

Yosemite spokesperson Scott Gediman called Destiny's death a "tragic accident" and said it happened during heavy snow and high winds.   He told CBS13 the tree was alive when it fell and it had no known problems.

Destiny's family and friends still want to know why she was working in an area that could become dangerous in bad weather.

"Seems like this is something that should have been able to be prevented," Roach-Carter said.

National Park rangers are investigating what led to Destiny's death while Mariposa County is handling the autopsy.