Engineer of
Metrolink Train Had Troubled Past

The engineer of the Los Angeles-area commuter train that crashed into a freight train Friday -- killing 25 people and injuring 135 others -- was a gay man with a bit of a troubled past. Robert M. Sanchez, who had been working for Metrolink since 2005, is believed to have failed to stop at a signal near the San Fernando Valley district of Chatsworth, causing his train to collide with a Union Pacific freight train. The engineer was among those who died in the crash.

The Times reports that Sanchez moved to Southern California in 2000 with his life partner, Daniel Charles Burton. Three years later, on February 14, Burton hanged himself in the garage of the couple's home, leaving the following note: "Rob, Happy Valentine's Day. I love you. Please take care of yourself and Ignatia [the couple's dog]. I love you both very much. Daniel." A coroner later reported that Burton was HIV-positive, and Sanchez said that just before the suicide he and Burton had discussed breaking up.

Following the suicide Sanchez ran into a little trouble with the law -- he served 90 days in jail in connection with an attempted-shoplifting incident at Costco -- but primarily lived a quiet life, raising and breeding Italian greyhound dogs.

"He talked about Daniel and said they had bought the house together," fellow greyhound breeder and friend Lilian Barber, 77, told the Times, adding that he never told her that Burton had died. "He was so alive and always up. I've never met anyone so up. That's why it's so difficult to imagine that Rob is dead." (The Advocate)