That was Weaver eight months ago: Her comatose body waiting for her mind to wake. Last week, she rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair.
On Wednesday, the Redding woman testified before a Contra Costa Superior Court judge that it was Mark Anthony Fregia of Vallejo who crippled her on Dec. 18, 2003.
It was he, she said, who killed her two babies.
"There was too much fire. (The car) might have blown up. Flames were everywhere," Weaver told the court during Fregia's preliminary hearing. "I screamed, 'My kids! My babies ... they're dead! He killed my kids!'"
Judge Barry Baskin held Fregia for trial on charges he murdered 6-year-old Devlin Weaver and his own son, 2-year-old Daelen Fregia, while trying to burn their mother to death inside a moving car on Interstate 80.
So ended an abuse-fraught, three-year relationship that yielded one child and at least one prior criminal case in which authorities accused Fregia of beating and kidnapping Weaver, Solano County Superior Court records show.
Fregia, who also faces arson and carjacking charges in connection with the Dec. 18 fire, did not look at Weaver as she described how he calmly asked Devlin to hand him a soda bottle as he drove his Dodge Colt west on the freeway near Pinole's Appian Way exit.
"He asked my daughter in the back seat to hand him his soda under the back seat," Weaver said. "He opened it and immediately started dousing me with gasoline (inside the bottle). I was screaming, 'Don't do this! What are you doing? Stop, please! Don't do this!'"
Although separated from Weaver, 28, for more than a year, Fregia still jealously monitored her love life, doted on the children and frequently threatened her, blaming her for his problems, Weaver testified.
At the time of the December 2003 attack, Fregia, 35, was awaiting trial for allegedly dragging Weaver by her hair into the street naked, beating and choking her in August 2002. But Solano County family court awarded him joint custody of and visitation with Daelen in October 2003.
On Dec. 18, a day Fregia was supposed to return Daelen to Weaver, she was staying with her new boyfriend in Vallejo. A few days earlier she told Fregia about the relationship, confirming his long-held suspicion, she said.
Fregia repeatedly phoned Weaver that day, demanding that she and the children accompany him on a holiday shopping trip to a Vallejo toy store. She eventually agreed.
But Fregia did not drive to the toy store, instead heading south over the Carquinez Bridge. He ignored her frantic pleas to take her and the children back, Weaver said.
After dousing Weaver with gasoline near Pinole, he lit her with a cigarette lighter, she testified.
Weaver yanked the steering wheel, forcing the car onto the Appian exit.
There, witnesses testified, a man and woman emerged from the smoldering car, their clothing ablaze. The Colt rolled down an embankment to the freeway shoulder, where it burst into flames with the children inside.
"The woman was completely on fire. The man's shirt and pants were on fire. I started up the hill to see if I could help," testified Richmond resident Carmen Jones, who had stopped her car on the freeway shoulder. "She was screaming back at the car, 'My babies! My babies!' She was trying to get them out."
Fregia, meanwhile, jumped into Jones' car and sped off, Jones testified. San Francisco police arrested him later that night in the Tenderloin.
Deputy public defender David Headley declined comment after the hearing, as did Fregia's family. During the hearing, Headley elicited testimony from Weaver about Fregia's love of the children and strong interest in being a parent.
Deputy district attorney Paul Graves said his office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Fregia faces formal arraignment later this month in preparation for trial.
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