Erin Leiva, a 20-year-old Hispanic woman, was found dead in early November in an apartment in the West Los Angeles area, where her boyfriend apparently lived, but although police reported that the cause of death was an overdose , the family requests a thorough investigation.
The family of Guatemalan origin has also opened an account on the site GoFundme under the name Erin Leiva to raise funds and give him a decent funeral.
“Erin disappeared on November 1st. My sister (her mother) got up and saw that she was not there. She is her mother’s only child. When she looked at her badge (work identification card), it seemed very strange to her because she had just started working as a medical assistant for about two weeks, and she was very happy and content,” says Sharon Guevara, Erin’s aunt.
Mom and daughter lived together in the city of Glendale in Los Angeles County; and when her mother realized that she was not at home at dawn on November 2nd, nor had she gone to work, she began looking for her with her friends.
“It was a friend who, through the phone, located Erin’s location in an apartment in West Los Angeles, where a friend gave her boyfriend access to stay. We knocked on the door, but no one opened it. We called the police, and when they arrived they were also playing. They didn’t open either. “The officers left because they said they couldn’t get in without a search warrant.”
That’s when Erin’s mother filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
“When we returned the next morning, we found there were seals from the medical examiner on the door. They had found two deceased people.”
That same day, Friday, November 3 around midnight, West LA police confirmed to the family that one of the two people found dead in the apartment was 20-year-old Erin; and the other was a man, the ex-boyfriend’s roommate.
The report indicated that both had died of an overdose, and that the final result of the toxicological examination with the details would be available in three to six months.
“We do not believe that version. The police want to treat it as a drug case, period. We think the boyfriend did something to her. In fact, we are sure that he was the one who anonymously reported the discovery of the bodies in the apartment to the police,” says the aunt.
It also says that they found texts where the boyfriend asked Erin to meet, but it also indicates that everyone in the family knows that the boyfriend continually harassed her.
“There is a message where he tells her that if she loves him, she has to do what he asks of her.”
The aunt describes Erin as a girl, cute and happy.
“She was honest, respectful, a leader. “Her boyfriend abused her and made her do things.”
He maintains that all they want is for the death to be investigated.
“We want to know what happened, for the police to interview the boyfriend. “He hasn’t shown his face to us, the family or any of Erin’s friends.”
Eryn Castell, Erin’s mother, says the only thing that can bring them comfort right now is for justice to be done for their daughter.
“She had a two-year relationship with her boyfriend who was 10 years older than her. A man who harassed her every second and made her life miserable. “She fell in love with my daughter since she was 18 years old, and since she was a super innocent girl, he tricked her.”
She says she would like the police to see the history of her daughter and her boyfriend.
“It was a completely abusive relationship. He kicked her, choked her, threw her to the floor. I don’t know what she gave him that day she died. She was in love with her and she still wanted to leave him.”
He says that four days before the disappearance he went home completely drugged and drunk. “We had to call the police because I wanted my daughter to crash her car; He also came with another woman with the idea of humiliating my daughter.”
He says that it hurts him that the police do not see the case as suspicious, and they want to close it by saying that it was an overdose.
“My daughter sent distress messages asking her father and sister for help; and it hurts me that the police didn’t open the door to the apartment when we went to look for her because maybe she was still alive.”
For this mother, Erin’s death was a femicide.
“I cannot conceive that the police ignore the abuse that my daughter suffered day and night. Even before he reported the bodies to the police, he called the towing company to seize my daughter’s car in which it arrived at her boyfriend’s apartment; and he deleted all the texts she had sent him.”
Eryn says that unfortunately her daughter fell in love with her own murderer who abused and tormented her.
“He gave her the drugs that killed her,” he says.
On November 29, Erin’s remains will be laid to rest for eternity.