Couple dies trying to stay warm in tent near Fresno highway. ‘They’d help out anybody’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Officials identified unhoused individuals who died by apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Advocates urge expanded warming centers; city policy opens shelters only below 34 degrees.
- Friends created a memorial; advocates press city for a more humane homelessness response.
Family and friends are grieving the loss of two unhoused individuals who died while trying to stay warm in their tent along a highway in Fresno last week.
Fresno police responded to a call Friday afternoon about two individuals who were found dead in their tent in an encampment near the Highway 180 on-ramp and Abby Street in Fresno, California Highway Patrol spokesperson Mike Salas said.
Thursday night, temperatures dropped to 39 degrees in Fresno, according to the National Weather Service. The central San Joaquin Valley region has experienced colder-than-usual temperatures in December thanks to an extra-rainy autumn.
Fresno County Coroner’s Office Spokesperson Tony Botti confirmed the identities of the deceased as Denise Celis, 52, and Ronald Wallace, 50, on Monday. Their causes of death are pending the results of toxicology tests, he said.
Friends and family of Celis and Wallace created a small memorial with crosses, candles, flowers and mementos for the pair at the encampment. They were remembered as generous, family-oriented individuals who fell on hard times.
“My sister was loved. She had family,” Margarita Alvarez said in an interview with The Bee Monday evening.
“My father had a smile that could light up a room. He was goofy and had a way of making people laugh. He wasn’t perfect, and he wasn’t always the best father, but he was my father, and he mattered,” family of Ronald Wallace said in a written statement provided to The Bee by his daughter.
Salas said based on a preliminary investigation, the duo’s cause of death is believed to be carbon monoxide poisoning. No foul play is suspected and CHP believes their death took place sometime the previous night before they were found.
“It appears they had a heating fire going on inside the tent,” Salas said.
The Wallace family has a GoFundMe page to help pay for cremation expenses for Ronald.
“People often say that individuals experiencing homelessness ‘choose’ that life, but that isn’t always fair,” Wallace’s family said in a statement.
“Over time, and without support, someone can become accustomed to that way of living, and it can begin to feel like home. My father was a human being with a story and struggles, not a statistic. Everyone deserves compassion, dignity, and care,” they said.
Victim remembered as a mother, grandmother, sister
Even though Alvarez’s little sister had been living on the streets for some time, her death was “so unexpected.”
Celis was a mother of five kids and a grandmother, as well.
“She was a good mom, she just made a wrong turn in life,” Alvarez said in an interview.
Family had tried to get Celis help, but she refused, Alvarez said.
She and other family members regularly visited Celis at the encampment to check on her and make sure she had food. In the cold months, they brought her blankets “because she won’t stay at anyone’s house,” Alvarez said.
She described Wallace and Celis as “just friends” who used to be in a relationship. On colder nights, Celis would let him stay in her tent, Alvarez said.
“If anyone needed anything she was always willing to help,” she said.
Alvarez said understands that homeless people in the street can be an “eyesore,” but she thinks the city’s increasingly punitive approach with its anti-camping law is “backwards.”
“They were just trying to keep warm and this is what happened,” she said.
The grieving family has a GoFundMe page for end-of-life expenses and plans to sell food to raise money for funeral expenses.
‘Generous’ friends
Luis Altos was tending to the altar of his friends, Celis and Wallace, on Monday afternoon, donning a poncho to stay warm in the mid-40-degree weather.
Altos had one word to describe the pair: “Generous.”
He remembered the couple fondly because, when he was living on the streets, they gave him food and let him stay in their tent. Today Altos lives in a shelter, but he made sure to regularly visit Celis and Wallace since they had helped him when he fell on hard times.
“They’d help out anybody,” Altos said.
Altos said he found the couple in their tent on Friday morning. “It was painful to be honest,” he said.
Johnny Mounce, 51, has also been staying near the spot where Celis and Wallace were found for the past few days. In an interview with The Bee, he said he’d known Wallace for more than 15 years. Mounce said he was at camp the day after the couple died.
Mounce said Wallace was a family-oriented man. He checked on his mom and sister every day, he said.
“He loves his mama. Period,” Mounce said. “He’s the oldest boy.”
He was the type of person that didn’t cause problems and usually kept to himself, Mounce said.
“He was mostly a happy-go-lucky guy,” Mounce said.
Mounce said the cold temperatures has been rough the past few days, and that some people, like himself, do want help and shelter.
“Cops want to come out here and harass us, take our belongings, throw us in jail. How is that really gonna help us? It’s not.”
Salas of the CHP said encampments along highway embankments are illegal across the state and pose a risk to both unhoused individuals and motorists. He asked motorists to report encampments and warming fires to prevent further tragedies.
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Couple dies trying to stay warm in tent near Fresno highway. ‘They’d help out anybody’."
