South Sound newlywed killed in head-on wreck while moving out of state
Just 22 days after getting married, a South Sound woman and her husband died in a head-on wreck last month while they were moving out of state.
Serenne Dildanges Mikel and Casey Daniel, both 23, were on their way to their new home in Texas on July 29 when the crash happened on New Mexico Highway 371.
Mikel’s aunt, Brea Mikel, a Tacoma resident, is raising funds on GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses and to transport Mikel’s remains to Palau, where she said the newlyweds’ families are from, among other costs. In four days, the GoFundMe raised over $7,000.
Her niece lived in Federal Way, and the newlyweds were driving to Texas to start a new chapter of their lives, she told The News Tribune on Aug. 6.
New Mexico State Police were dispatched around 4 p.m. on July 29, spokesperson Wilson Silver told The News Tribune on Thursday. Mikel and Daniel were in a 2007 Ford vehicle, while the other driver was in a 2016 Hyundai.
Silver said the driver of the Hyundai was flown to a hospital in Albuquerque, and his condition is currently unknown. An investigation into the crash is ongoing. Brea Mikel said the newlyweds died at the scene.
“Dildanges was so excited to start her new life in Texas with her husband, and that life was unfairly taken from both of them,” Mikel’s aunt stated in the GoFundMe post.
Staff writer Puneet Bsanti contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the scope of the fundraiser. The GoFundMe campaign will only help pay for Mikel’s funeral expenses and transporting her remains to Palau, among other costs.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
