The 17 victims confirmed dead in this week’s deadly Montecito mudslides included a mother asleep with her 3-year-old daughter, a tragedy that also claimed the life of the woman’s 10-year-old nephew, who was sleeping nearby.

In another home, a man had just enough time to shout to his partner to grab onto something and try to save himself before the two were swept away by the mud that crashed through the walls of their home. He died while his partner survived.

Theirs are among the many stories of those who perished and those who managed with inexplicable good fortune to escape the slides in the wealthy enclave of Montecito that is home to a variety of people ranging from captains of industry to those who manicured their lawns.

Here are their stories.

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Marilyn Ramos was asleep in bed with her 3-year-old daughter, Kaelly Benitez, when the deadly mudslide came crashing through their Montecito rental home, carrying both to their deaths.

Also killed was Kaelly’s 10-year-old cousin, Jonathan Benitez, who was asleep nearby.

Marilyn’s husband, Antonio Benitez, was injured, as was his brother, Victor, who is Jonathan’s father. Victor’s 2-year-old son survived, but his wife, Fabiola, was still missing Friday.

The brothers, immigrants from Mexico, owned a gardening and landscaping business in Montecito. Marilyn was a stay-at-home mom.

“My sister was such a good person, she only thought of others to the point that she would cry with you when you were hurt or sick,” Jennifer Ramos said between sobs Friday as she spoke by phone from her home in Mexico.

Her 27-year-old sister called relatives every day in the town of Marquelia, near Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast, Jennifer Ramos said. When a call didn’t come Tuesday she sensed something was wrong.

During her last call home the day before, Marilyn put her daughter on the phone and she happily told her aunt of the toys she received on Jan. 6, The Day of the Magi, a holiday widely celebrated in Latin America.

During a visit home in September Marilyn Ramos told her family she missed Mexico and hoped to return someday. On Friday her family spoke with Mexican officials about bringing her body back.