Latina Courageously Named Her Killers Right Before She Passed Away

“She fought like a soldier, like a warrior

February 16, 2018 - 08:44

“She fought like a soldier, like a warrior.”

That is how Richard Loadholt described 19-year-old Lizette Andrea Cuesta who was on the ground, bleeding from stab wounds.

“You could tell it was so bad to where you just had to give her comfort,” Loadholt told Fox40. “Anything else was gonna be painful.”

.@ACSOSheriffs identified the 19-y-o who was brutally stabbed and left to die in Livermore as Lizette Cuesta.

She had been living in Tracy. Before that she went to high school and community college in San Jose.@kron4news pic.twitter.com/Nq5ShQOw5X

— Spencer Blake (@spencerjblake) February 14, 2018

Cuesta’s tragic death is also a remarkable one. On Feb. 12, the teen, who lived in Tracy, California, was senselessly stabbed multiple times and assaulted, according to various media reports. She allegedly got into a car with a coworker, but what happened next is unfathomable.

“It happened just like this,” Daniel Gross, Cuesta’s killer told KTVU in a jailhouse interview. “I snapped,” The 19-year-old said. “I didn’t plan to do this at all. … I feel like s—. I f—ing hate myself, you know? I wish I could go back in time and that this never happened.”

Whatever led to Gross killing Cuesta doesn’t matter. He did the unthinkable and now thanks to her bravery, he and his girlfriend 25-year-old Melissa Jill Leonardo are behind bars for her death.

It was Cuesta herself who led police to her killers. After being stabbed, Cuesta “crawled nearly 100 yards, leaving a trail of blood behind her,” Fox40 reports.

“This victim really tried to survive, and she fought and she fought,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, according to Fox40. “The last thing, we believe, that she was able to do was to point us in the direction of the people that killed her. And that’s pretty remarkable.”

Cuesta used her last dying words to name her killers. That in itself is truly powerful.

People on Twitter have shared their thoughts about Cuesta and her bravery.

https://twitter.com/cerebellumizm/status/963625978412007424

We lost a warrior. Her name is Lizette Andrea Cuesta , she fought to the bitter end and even identified her killers. You are not forgotten #LizetteAndreaCuesta .

— Elden Gomillion (@Eldengomillion) February 14, 2018