A Las Vegas, N.M., woman just weeks shy of her 19th birthday and a Santa Fe man were killed when their cars collided head-on late Tuesday on Interstate 25.

State police listed alcohol as a contributing factor and are awaiting results of toxicology tests.

Cecilio Jaramillo, 28, was driving south in the northbound lanes of I-25 when his 1990 Lincoln Continental smashed into 18-year-old Mariah J. Arguello's 2005 Suzuki, police said.

The crash happened about 10:30 p.m. about halfway between Santa Fe and Las Vegas. Police said both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.

A 40-ounce bottle of King Cobra beer was found in a paper bag in Jaramillo's car but appeared to be unopened, State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia said.

Both victims were wearing seat belts.

Santa Fe police dispatchers received a call about a wrong-way driver at 10:20 p.m. Four minutes later, a second call came in reporting a head-on collision. Officers and medical personnel arrived on the scene within 10 to 15 minutes, Garcia said.

Jaramillo's driving record shows a DWI conviction from the Magistrate Court in Santa Rosa in 2004.

New Mexico court records also show that a Mariah Justine Arguello, with the same birth date as the crash victim, was charged with DWI less than two weeks ago, on March 10, in Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque, and was released from jail March 11.

Police are investigating where Jaramillo began his wrong-way driving.

Arguello was a 2009 graduate of West Las Vegas High School. The school's principal, Gene Parson, said Arguello "always had a smile on her face" and was "very happy-go-lucky." He said she worked as an office aide at the school and was involved in cheerleading and the school choir.

"It affects everyone. It affects the school and the community and the state, and it's just a shame we have to go through this again," Parson said, referring to a 2006 incident in which several members of a Las Vegas family died in a head-on collision on I-25 near Santa Fe.

In that accident, Renee Collins-Gonzales, the West Las Vegas High School nurse, her husband, Paul Gonzales, and their daughters, Alisha Garcia, 17, Jacquelynn Gonzales, 11, and Selena Gonzales, 10, were killed in a collision with a drunken, wrong-way driver, Dana Pabst of Tesuque.

Arissa Garcia, who was 15 years old at the time, was the only survivor of that accident and graduated last year with Arguello.

Contact Veronica Cruz at 986-3042 or vcruz@sfnewmexican.com.