Nearly two years have passed since four farm workers were killed in a traffic accident in Kunia, but their relatives still grieve.

Edgar Laroco's mother, Lorna, perished and he has difficulty dealing with the way she died. He said he hears her voice and dreams about her all the time.

In the dreams, "I feel like we're face to face and it's like she's still alive, and the next thing I know she's already dead," said Laroco, 32.

From the dreams, he said he thinks his mother wants to see some resolution in the criminal case against the driver accused of causing the accident.

John Joseph Szemkow, 47, was accused of recklessly passing vehicles on Kunia Road on April 24, 2006, and causing a pickup truck carrying 12 farm workers to swerve and collide with an oncoming cement mixing truck.

Szemkow pleaded no contest Thursday to four counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide and multiple criminal charges.

Szemkow's decision to change his plea from not guilty was a shock, the victims' relatives said.

"I want him to be in jail forever, and to die, too," said Lydia Agbayani, 56, the sister of one of the victims. "If I had the power, I would have him killed because he killed my sister."

The victims were riding in the bed of the pickup truck that was taking them to work. All were thrown from the vehicle.

Killed were Aquilina Polendey, 57, and Ana Sacalamitao, 46, of Waipahu; and Lorna Laroco, 53, and Gertrudis Montano, 59, of 'Ewa Beach. Eight others were injured.

Agbayani, whose sister was Sacalamitao, said she is angry at Szemkow and still cries every time someone talks about the crash.

"Even now, I have hard feelings for him," she said.

Sacalamitao, who has a twin sister, was one of 11 children in the family and she was the first to die, making it even more difficult for the family, Agbayani said.

The crash, one of the worst in O'ahu's history, stunned a community that was in the midst of the Filipino Centennial celebration. The Filipino Community Center turned one of its events into a fundraiser that collected money to help the victims' families pay for such things as having their loved ones taken back to the Philippines for burial.

Sacalamitao and Laroco are buried there, and some of the Laroco family plan to make an anniversary pilgrimage there.

Geminiano "Toy" Arre Jr., president of the center, said the driver's decision to change his plea will help the families put closure to the crash.

"It's a ... tragic incident, but at least now the families of the victims can put this behind them and move on with their lives," Arre said.

Laroco said he missed the last opportunity to see his mother alive because he was too tired to attend a family dinner on the Sunday before the crash. The next day, he heard about the crash while at work.

"It's hard to accept for me," he said, adding that his father can't accept it either. "You don't want to go home if your wife is not home."

One of the charges against Szemkow was leaving the scene of the crash, a felony.

Szemkow's attorney said his client did not knowingly leave the scene and that he was taking prescription pain medication at the time of the incident.

But Laroco said it is hard to believe that anyone would not have noticed the crash.

"How could he never see it because it was a big one?" he said. "For me, he wants to get out of there so fast so people cannot say he's involved in that accident. That's why he ran away."

Laroco said the driver deserves to go to prison but he said it should be up to the judge to decide for how long.

Szemkow faces up to 10 years in prison and will be sentenced in late June.