Mother makes plea for daughter's killer to surrender after two years
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Sarah Mendez keeps a storybook of daughter Dixie with her always. "She was happy, laughing, full of life," Mendez said. Twenty-four-years worth of joy and memories, but the past two years, pain.
"I still feel it every day," Mendez said.
Dixie Mendez went to a friend's birthday party in August 2014 in southwest Houston. She told friends she didn't feel well and went to a back room to take a nap. While she slept, police say a fight among teens passing by, and those at the party, escalated.
A group of teens returned and fired bullets into the home, striking Mendez.
"They didn't just mistakenly fill up a gun and shoot a house full of people, they did it on purpose. They didn't care who was going to get hurt on the inside," said the grieving mother.
Mendez held a job at Ben Taub and was working towards becoming a dental hygienist. Friends told Sarah Mendez her daughter had just learned she was pregnant. "Maybe we buried two for one," Mendez said. The victim's family said they never imagined two years later they would still be waiting for a break in the case. "Tell what you know so other people can find some peace," Sarah Mendez said.
She said that someone knows something. "I can't sleep at night, maybe they can't either."
ORIGINAL REPORT: Pregnant woman fatally shot at birthday party
Sarah Mendez has the last picture she took of Dixie, the young woman's 24-year-story ended not long after.
"It's painful, very painful and I don't know how else to describe losing the light of my life," Mendez said.
The grieving mother knows nothing can change that, but justice would make the last chapter a little easier. If you have any information, call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS, you can remain anonymous and claim up to $5,000 in reward money.
