♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, street racing. cracking down on the need for speed in california. how some people's obsession with souped-up cars and highway takeovers are putting a community in danger. >> this intersection has these takeovers every week. >> and the teenager going over 100 miles an hour in his lamborghini, killing a young woman, now charged. >> i'm angry. it was avoidable. plus behind palace doors with the grand duchess of luxembourg. like fellow royal meghan markle, the outsider trying to find a place within. >> it is a life that demands more. doing things without complaining.

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thanks for joining us. tonight, spinning out of control. the street racers terrorizing los angeles, driving residents and officials mad.

now one family fighting back after a teenager speeding at over 100 miles an hour in his lamborghini struck and killed their loved one. tonight we welcome abc's zohreen shah to "nightline." >> reporter: for years, california and car culture have gone hand in hand. fast cars, burning rubber, a rush of adrenaline. >> i'm racing, i'm not stopping. >> reporter: in this world, speed is king. your worth often measured in horsepower. >> what's the fastest that you've gone on a regular street? >> 160 miles an hour. >> reporter: and social media status. >> it was a drug you've got to wean yourself off of. right or wrong, you grow up. >> reporter: a lifestyle steeped in risk and recklessness comes with a price. the consequences often tragic. >> you're driving cars at 100 lus miles an hour. you can expect that there will be accidents and that some of

those accidents unfortunately will be deadly. >> they think they're indestructible, they can get away with it. unfortunately, due to resources for most agencies, it is a hard event for law enforcement. >> reporter: in los angeles, a city built around driving, highways cut through the landscape like blood vessels. but the same city streets that make everyday life here possible for citizens also make it treacherous when speed culture meets daily life. february 17th, a day forever tainted for monique munoz's family. >> a major investigation under way, two-car crash, one of those vehicles appears to be a lamborghini suv. >> monique was an angel to the universe. very special. to the community. >> reporter: just 32 years old, monique worked as a clinical receptionist at ucla. that day, she was driving home from her shift shortly after 5:00 p.m. she crosses the corner of olympic and overland, a busy

thoroughfare in the heart of west l.a. it's the last thing she would ever do. a 17-year-old driving a more than $200,000 lamborghini suv slams into her monique dies at the scene. authorities say he was going over 100 miles per hour at the time. >> we could not believe monique was gone. this was so devastating to us, to the family. >> reporter: at their home in los angeles, carol and isaac cordona are soon living every parent's worst nightmare. >> he pulls her license from his top left pocket, puts it on the table, pushes it towards me and my wife. he said, i'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but your daughter was killed in a car accident. >> the hardest thing for me was, i didn't get to go shopping with her for a wedding dress. instead, i had to find an outfit for her to be buried in.

>> justice for monique! >> reporter: after monique's tragic death, family and friends gathered to pressure the l.a. district attorney to file charges against the teen. >> we have this responsibility to monique to give her a voice, to speak for her, to give her justice. >> we're going to keep fighting. >> reporter: the teen's father, multimillionaire entrepreneur james corey, apologizing for the family's loss. >> i am very, very sorry. and no words can say how sorry i am, because those are just words. >> apologies were not accepted from that family. this is purchase. you can't apologize for a human life. >> reporter: nearly two months office charging the minor with felony vehicular manslaughter, the teen admitting to the charge in court, equivalent to a guilty plea. >> i want him to do 50 years, i never want him to forget what he's done. >> reporter: he's now under house arrest and awaiting sentencing at the end of june.

>> the 17-year-old's lawyer has already come out with a statement that he anticipates that his client will receive anywhere from probation up to about nine months in a juvenile facility. the most severe penalty under the state of california is up to six years. >> reporter: the underbelly of los angeles's car culture, exotic vehicles performing in outlaw street races and the rise of the takeover in which street corners are converted into speedways. infamous in films like "the fast and the furious." >> ask any real racer, it don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. winning's winning. >> reporter: but these street takeovers often have fatal results. >> a street race turns deadly. >> part of a roving street takeover where drivers wildly spin and drift their cars. >> you see the doughnut marks,

the tire marks. in this intersection, takeovers every weekend. >> reporter: in the real world, these streets are home to families. drivers performing dangerous stunts in front of hundreds of spectators, making their normal life treacherous. >> they'll block intersections, causing problems for the community. they result in traffic collisions. unfortunately, fatal traffic collisions also. >> reporter: sergeant michael downing of the l.a. county sheriff's department has spent his career patrolling these roads. >> you've been doing this 17 years. have you seen this problem get worse, or better at all? >> it's gotten a lot worse. when i first started, it was simple street racing. the cars would go out, 100, 200 cars. they'd do a couple races on a closed-off street. then leave. it's become more aggressive. they're more combative toward law enforcement, to the public. >> reporter: drivers leveraging instagram and twitter to publicize takeovers and gain

followers. >> social media is where they get their fan base for it. spectators. but social media has also helped us, because we all follow it. so we keep track of the social media posts. >> reporter: there's also clout, credibility, and money. >> this is a super charger. >> reporter: racing is in corey smith's dna. at least it was. he says he's retired now, after a lifetime spent chase the adrenaline rush behind a steering wheel. walk me through it, how old were you when you started racing? >> i've been doing this since i was 12 years old, racing. i'm 38 years old now. >> reporter: the ex-street racer spend is his days under the hood, souping up cars. what makes a car a racing car? >> okay. for example, this car right here has come with original 305 motor, a small motor. now it has a corvette motor. >> reporter: this chevy 1987 monte carlo aero coupe, a small step down from the super cars on the streets today.

>> pretty much gave it up. the cars now, extremely fast on the street. very dangerous. i mean, it's wild. i mean, got too much to lose. >> how do you wean yourself off of a drug like street racing? >> it's hard. know what i mean? like i say, you can be in a car that makes some horsepower, i mean, you want to punch it from time to time to time, i mean, it's just something you got to realize when you get older, you got to kick back. a fast car, a lot of horsepower, gassing to kill you. you don't know how to use it, you're dead. >> reporter: the high stakes game of life and dead has not kept eric reese from getting behind the starting line. you're still race. >> yes, raced sunday four times. if you're at a street race, you can't get mad if you get killed or go to jail. you might get killed, you might. if you don't want that, stay in the house. >> reporter: while many continue choosing to live life on the edge, others are left picking up the pieces.

for monique's family, this intersection remains a permanent vivid reminder of the lives left in the wake. >> i cry every day. i can't sleep. whew. it hurts me. just to be here. >> reporter: for them, justice cannot come any sooner. the guilty plea a small victory. but not enough to undo their pain. >> we don't think we can ever move forward. ever. we are all in a dark place. in order for us to move forward, bring back monique. >> our thanks to zohreen. coming up, from the duchess of sussex to the grand duchess of luxembourg, revealing the personal sacrifices behind palace doors. y of... killer attitude. or hydration.

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♪ the world loves to dish about the british royal family, but what about the other monarchies around the world? introducing the cuban-born grand duchess of luxembourg, now peeling back the splendor of life behind the european palace doors and revealing to abc's maggie rulli what life is really like being an outsider marrying into a royal family. >> reporter: once upon a time in a small european country just an ocean away, there was a beautiful castle. >> people, they love to come

here. it's a nice atmosphere. >> reporter: and look at this view. >> yes, it is. it is very, very impressive. >> reporter: inside that beautiful castle lives her royal highness maria teresa, the grand duchess of luxembourg. the equivalent of the country's queen. >> this is your wedding day? >> that's our wedding day. >> reporter: in a rare interview, the grand duchess is pulling back the curtain on what life is like in modern-day royalty. >> it's a life of giving up your liberty. it's a life of commitment to your country and especially of service. >> reporter: it's a storybook tale with an unlikely character. >> it's hard not to think of this love story as a little bit of a fairytale. >> it is, it is. it does have a lot of fairytale in it. >> reporter: the grand duchess haling from cuba, who fled to new york in the middle of a revolution. her story in some ways so similar to meghan markle's. two women, two outsiders, trying to find their place within an exclusive society they never imagined being a part of. >> what advice would you give to

someone who is an outsider? >> it is a life that demands more. and when you're confronted to situations where you cannot do what you would want to do, well, you're not going to denounce the whole system that you belong to. you're lucky to have married into this incredible family situation. >> reporter: for the grand duchess, her life now could not be any more different from the one she grew up with. >> i was born in cuba. it's very special, belonging to a cuban family. it's joyful, it's happy, it's full of -- it's latin, it's full of life. and it's -- it is the root of who i am. >> reporter: when she was just 3, her family fled during the revolution, finding refuge in new york city. after new york, she was studying in geneva when she met her prince charming, henry, the grand duke of luxembourg.

>> so here we are, beginning of university, and i meet this young boy. and i do know that i said to myself -- we're going to keep a distance. worst thing you can do is fall in hoff wilove with a crown pri what a problem. that was my thought. >> you were one of the first outsiders to marry into a royal family anywhere. you're also not from a european background, you're cuban. what was that like for you? >> at the time, it was not usual for a young girl who was not of the royal circle to marry into the royal circle. >> it had to be incredibly difficult. here you are, a young woman falling 92 love, the love of your life, not knowing whether or not you'll be able to actually spend your lives together. >> yeah, it was hard. and the more the years passed, the more stressful it became. >> could you have ever dreamed thrive would bring you here, grand duchess of luxembourg, a

royal family in europe? >> really not. no, no, no. i would have people working for us in the household that would come and address me and say, your royal highness. once or twice i did look in back of me to see who they would talking to. what my mother told me before i married, and i always kept that very chose to my heart. she said to me, don't ever change. >> reporter: as the grand duchess discovered, when you marry into royalty, you marry into centuries of royal tradition. 44 countries have monarchies, from the himalayan kingdom of bhutan and the streets of tokyo to the shores of tonga and the palaces of the uk and europe, kings and queens wielding power that's intangible but influential. >> when you enter a royal family, when you realize is that you marry not only the crown prince, as i married, but you also marry the institution. and you marry the country.

>> reporter: critics argue the monarchies of today are undemocratic, cost the taxpayers money, and are increasingly outdated. perhaps the most famous of the royals, the duke and duchess of sussex, the flaws of mond monarchy have been deeply felt. meghan markle joinin oprah winfrey open -- >> it's easy to have an image that's far from reality. that's what's tricky the past few years, when the perception and reality are two different thins and you're being judged on the perception, but you're living the reality of it. >> what was your reaction when you heard that prince harry and meghan were going to be stepping down as senior royals and moving to america, leaving the united kingdom? >> well, of course it's sad. but i wouldn't want to -- to place a judgment now. i think that it is a tremendous challenge to enter a royal family. and it is a tremendous honor.

and an incredible responsibility toward that family that accepts you with open arms. >> reporter: for thetry years that she's lived and served in her adopted country, the grand duchess has never forgotten her roots. how much does your background play into the way you are today? >> i have the spontaneity of the cubans. but i also have learned through living in the states, in switzerland, now in luxembourg, that you have to take time to reflect. that's where i say that all cultures have brought me a lot. >> reporter: her multicultural background and experience directly impacting the causes she chooses to champion, including leading a groundbreaking conference supporting women who have been raped during war through her organization "stand, speak, rise up." >> i can face these causes because i feel so much for the people who are suffering. from these problems.

i'm living in the most privileged way. i have to help those who really are living the worst situations. >> reporter: the grand duchess says she will continue to honor and serve the monarchy and country that has taken her in as their own, and in doing so hopes to represent the best of what a royal family can be. >> the thing is this. in a monarchy, the people identify themselves to a family. and it's a family that is above politics. you are there, you are the symbol. you are there for all. and you are always at the service of all and open to all. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm maggie rulli in luxembourg. up next, how a demonic chihuahua at the center of a adoption ad found a forever home.

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vessel for a traumatized victorian child, and a chucky doll in a dog's body. the pup going viral thanks to that brutally honest adoption ad. >> really nice to come home to somebody that's just so excited to see me. >> makitaking up the challenge giving prancer a forever home, ariel davis. she, too, believes in second chances. welcome home, prancer. that's "nightline." you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thank for staying up with us. good night, america.