On 19 September 1999, Saburido attended a birthday party near Austin, Texas. She and her friends left after a few hours, and accepted a ride home from a classmate. A short while into the drive, their car was hit by a large pickup truck driven by Reginald Stephey, who had been drinking beforehand. The driver and one passenger were killed, with the other passengers injured; of the three survivors, Saburido was the only one trapped in the car when it caught fire, and was unable to escape the flames. Passing paramedics extinguished the fire and tried to remove people from the car, but the fire reignited before they could rescue Saburido; they also lacked suitable equipment to cut her out. 45 seconds later a fire truck arrived and fully extinguished the fire, after which Saburido was airlifted to the burn unit in Galveston.