Community members held an evening vigil on Friday for Pamela Guerrero, 29, who was found dead at a Soundview apartment building on Dec. 21.
The circumstances surrounding Guerrero’s death remain a mystery, especially to her family, who demanded justice at the vigil.
Guerrero’s mother, Paulina Pacheco, kneeled before a collection of flowers, balloons, candles and handwritten messages all covered in plastic to protect against the snow, which began lightly falling as people gathered outside 1155 Morrison Ave, where Pacheco lives.
Her daughter sometimes stayed there but was living in Queens before she died, according to Pastor Boyde Singletary, who coordinated the remembrance.
Few details are known about how Guerrero died. According to information from the NYPD, officers responded to a 911 call the morning of Dec. 21 reporting an unconscious person found at 1225 Stratford Ave., about two blocks from her mother’s home.
Officers found Guerrero unresponsive at the “rear” of the apartment building, according to the NYPD spokesperson. The investigation remains ongoing, and a cause of death has not yet been determined.
At the vigil, Pacheco vowed to get to the bottom of what happened to Pamela.
“I’ll stay until the last drop of my life,” she said in Spanish. “I’m gonna stay until the last consequence.”
She said her daughter never had enemies. “I promise, in front of God, that she never hurt anybody, and I never hurt anybody. Everyone around here likes me and likes her.”
Speaking into a news camera, Pacheco made it clear that she believes her daughter was murdered, and she addressed the person who may have killed her daughter — or knows who did. “I want the guilty person. This isn’t going to go undiscovered.”
“I don’t have to cry because the first thing I have in my heart is goodness for my daughter,” Pacheco said. However, “When I know what happened, then I’m gonna cry.”
Other family members also remain confused and angry. Andres Guerrero, Pamela’s brother, spoke to the Bronx Times via phone just before the vigil and said he was baffled by her death.
“We haven’t heard anything [from investigators],” he said. “We’re still in shock.”
For Andres, why his sister went to 1225 Stratford in the first place was just one point of confusion. He said the family knows many people in the neighborhood, but he could not think of a reason why his sister would go to that address.
“It hits hard because we grew up here and everyone knows who we are,” he said.
Andres said the condition his sister’s body was found in was also strange. When Pamela was found, he said police told him she had no wounds from a gunshot or stabbing, but had bruises on her upper back. “If somebody did something, they did it from behind.”
Andres said surveillance footage from the Stratford Ave. building captured her entering but never coming out, and no one has come forward with information.
His sister was “not a problematic girl,” he said. “Who would do something like that?”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
