María Elena Holly on January 27, 1959. In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly was on tour when he, together with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, died in an airplane crash. Holly and Santiago had been married for only six months at the time of his death. She learned of his death from the reports on television. A widow after only six months of marriage, she suffered a miscarriage shortly after, reportedly due to "psychological trauma". Buddy was interred in Lubbock. Santiago-Holly did not attend the funeral and has never visited the grave site. She told the "Avalanche-Journal":
Buddy Holly the Big Bopper's watch, a lighter, two pairs of dice and part of another watch, and misplaced when the county moved courthouses. The glasses, missing their lenses, were returned to Maria Elena a year later, after a legal contest over them with his parents. They are now on display at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas. Buddy Holly left behind dozens of unfinished recordings: solo transcriptions of his new compositions; informal jam sessions with bandmates; or tapes demonstrating songs intended for other artists. The most recent recordings, made in Holly's apartment in late 1958, were his last six original