The California teenager who livestreamed her younger sister’s death said she did it so that people would help her family pay for the funeral. Eighteen-year-old Obdulia Sanchez was charged with drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter in the July crash that killed her 14-year-old sister Jacqueline.

Sanchez was livestreaming a video on social media when she apparently lost control of the car. She continued broadcasting after she realized her sister had been ejected from the vehicle. At one point in the video, Sanchez showed her sister’s body lying on the ground. In a four page letter given to local news outlet KGPE this week, Sanchez tried to explain her reasoning.

“I made that video because I knew I had more than 5,000 followers,” she wrote. “It was the only way my sister would get a decent burial. I would never expose my sister like that. I anticipated the public donating money because my family isn’t rich.”

More than $12,000 has been raised for the family, Sanchez’s lawyer confirmed to KOVR. Sanchez said the livestream was only stopped twice — both times for her to call 911. The teenager, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, said she “deserved” to be released from jail and go back home.

“You’re only going to make my parents suffer more,” she told KGPE in a separate phone interview. “You’re not going to help anybody else. My parents are grieving. They want me back home.”

Sanchez also defended her use of a phone behind the wheel.

“We do it all the time – all the time,” she said. “Trust me, it’s like a reflex. Everybody does it. They take Snapchats. Everybody does it. Why not? People take video of them in cars all the time. And I’m only 18 – we’re still young.”

The teen said she wanted to dedicate a music album to her sister – one that would include a remix of a story about the dangers of texting and driving. She also wanted to open a boxing gym with her father, speak at schools about drinking and driving and erect a statue of her sister in a local park.

“If I would’ve known that was going to happen that day, I would’ve never left the house, ever,” she said.

Sanchez’s lawyer said the teen was very remorseful and denounced a public rush to judgment in the case. Experts were analyzing the car to determine whether a blowout caused the fatal crash, Ramnik Samrao confirmed.

“Most people have seen this video and they just have this reaction on the kind of person she is based on this little clip into her life when they don’t know anything about her,” said Samrao. “She does obviously feel terrible and she’s trying to deal with it in the way that she can.”

Should Sanchez be convicted, she could face up to 13 years in prison.

“Sorry for making that video,” she said. “I look awful but I accomplished my goal.”

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