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Her children’s father doesn’t need to guess. He got the call.

The 37-year-old mother of two girls, ages 9 and 15, and a son, was terrified and begging for help after being struck by a monstrous wave of water as she drove home from her shift at Safeway. It was about 9 p.m. on September 12, and her fourth day on the job.

Knowing it would take first responders longer to arrive at the desolate area than her own family, Robles first alerted Scott King, Jr., who rallied his troops. Soon he, his brother Adam King, and dad Scott King, Sr. heeded the call for help. They said they arrived at the washes within minutes of Robles’ pleas.

The Kings banded together — adrenaline coursing as swiftly as flood waters through their veins. The trio raced toward the wash to rescue Robles, but they had no clue where she was, and by now she had stopped answering their phone calls.

There are two washes in the area, and the Kings — coming in different vehicles from different directions — arrived at each wash separately and with reckless abandon threw themselves into the flood waters to save the woman they loved.

King, Jr., who shares two children with Robles, dove into the wrong wash, searching for the young woman he met more than 15 years ago in college.

His dad was about a mile away, and had found Robles’ vehicle face down in the wash. She was nowhere to be found. A Meteorologist with the National Weather Service said it rained 1.04 inches during a 24-hour period that day near Benson.

No hesitation

By this time, first responders had arrived and helped King Jr. across the wash, running with him a mile to the second wash where her vehicle was found, empty.

The officers, much like the Kings, left fear and hesitation behind as their feet sank into disappearing sand and debris passed them. A Good Samaritan who stopped to help was taken by the water and was later rescued. It was not a safe place to be. But none of the King men planned to leave without Robles.

As soon as King, Jr., made it to the second wash where Robles’ car had been found, its headlight serving as a beacon, he spotted the mother of his children. She was face down, her body stuck in some roots.

A bottle of Nyquil Robles had purchased that evening for her daughter was found floating nearby, serving as an eerie reminder of how normal her evening had been, and how eager Robles was to get back to her family.

“I wasn’t even in there one second, and then ‘Bam’. There she was. It was like I was supposed to find her,” King, Jr., said.

That evening, he had to tell their two daughters mom had died.

‘She didn’t stand a chance’

The Kings said a witness traveling two cars behind Robles told them she didn’t stand a chance. Her car had been struck by a giant wave of water, tossing her through a gap between two bollards and right into the powerful flood waters.

“The thing is, it rains up here (in Benson) first,” King, Sr., explained. “So by the time it starts raining here, the water’s already rushing through the washes. It could not be raining at all, and you could get wiped out. You don’t even see it coming. That’s the bad part about up here.”

Even then, the trio never really worried about getting swept away. They used to set up lawn chairs and watch the racing waters flow through the wash as entertainment.

King, Jr. is now having flashbacks to the scene, which included him driving up to 90 mph trying to make it through the wash. It didn’t work and he made the long trek across by foot. He can’t stop picturing his brother and their father sinking into muddy waters, totaling their vehicles in a desperate effort to rescue Robles.

They put themselves in Robles’ mind, trying to figure out her movements that evening. And they ruminated on questions that like will never be answered.

Did she make it out of the car on her own, holding on to it for her life before she slipped off and was taken?

Did flood waters take her from inside the car?

The missing bollards

King, Sr. had to shovel mud, rocks and debris from inside the car in an attempt to find Robles’ purse.

It’s hard to picture her surviving inside, or outside the vehicle.

One thing the Kings are certain of, they said, is that if bollards were correctly installed at the wash, Robles’ car would have likely never been swept from the road and into the concrete pit filled with rushing water.

Instead, the vehicle would have been pinned and she likely would have survived, as is the case in many other swift wash rescues.

Pictures show that a bollard, a sturdy metal pole preventing vehicles from entry into washes, had been cut flush to the ground. In Cadillac wash, the left an approximately 10-foot space where Robles’ car was able to be swept through, go upstream before only its reared could be seen above the water line.

“This is the most dangerous (wash) out there and they go and cut the bollard,” King, Sr., said, angry and confused. The family plans to bring their concerns to Cochise County in hopes that this accident will see the bollard restored.

‘You don’t expect to have to go out looking for someone you love’

All three King men say they are sure they did all they could to rescue Robles.

Without a single thought of hesitation the trio sped, trekked and fought fishing water as they worked in tandem to scour two washes.

They wanted her to be able to continue to collect every art project, homemade card and report card given to her by her daughters.

As King, Jr., spoke about Robles, his eyes began to tear up.

“I’m so sorry. It’s like the craziest thing. You don’t expect to have to go out looking for someone you love.”

Instead, this was a family effort, and one they won’t soon forget.