And while Laddie's family has gotten justice for the teenager's death, the family of 50-year-old Desiree Gonzalez can only hope that the same will be granted to them.
Gonzalez was found dead inside her home yesterday afternoon along with her brother-in-law, 25-year-old George Rochester. They were allegedly killed by 38-year-old Miguel Encalada.
Yesterday, the police refrained from giving any concrete details - including a possible motive for why the suspect would kill his girlfriend and his little brother. But unconfirmed reports of a "love triangle" gone wrong hit social media, and commenters became judges, jurors, and executioners.
And for this family, losing a loved one is already incredibly difficult for them, but having to contend with the harsh opinions of people they don't even know has made it even worse. This is especially because the first narrative may not be exactly what happened.
The family believes the scene was staged to match the suspect's story. Courtney Menzies spoke with the victim's sister not far from the crime scene and has this story.
50-year-old Desiree Gonzalez and 38-year-old Miguel Encalada were together for three years and had built two businesses together before Encalada reportedly murdered her and his own little brother.
The story quickly spread like wildfire: Encalada had allegedly caught his girlfriend and his brother, 25-year-old George Rochester, having an affair and snapped. He was found inside the home with the two bodies drinking a beer, after taking a selfie.
But Gonzalez's sister, who was at her teaching job when she got the news, said she immediately knew that those reports couldn't be true.
Cindy Rowland, Sister of Deceased
"My sister and Miguel were inseparable, they don't go anywhere without each other. If you see my sister, you will see Miguel. So I said where Miguel could have went why Dez was in the house with his brother? So it wasn't making any sense. Not her, not in the morning. She normally gets up around maybe 9 or so and she would start to get ready and do her things in the kitchen and getting ready and Miguel is a barber so he would trim. So it was… I didn't believe the story."
But it was just a hunch - Rowland said that once she went inside, it was clear to her that even though police arrived around midday, the crime had been committed hours before.
Cindy Rowland, Sister of Deceased
"When I went to identify her, because I'm the one who identified the body, she didn't get shot, she had a blunt injury on her forehead and blood was coming from her nose and her mouth. Her body was already swollen so hence the reason why she couldn't have died at that time right there when I went there because it takes some time before your body become swollen."
"She had to be… the rigor mortis would have already set in for her body to be swollen and blue because her mouth was blue. Inside her whole mouth was blue and swollen. So when I went inside, the scenery that I saw, and the picture that was circulating, I said but how is it that in my sister's room, her mattress is filled with blood, she was killed her in her room, how is it that she was in the restaurant area, placed on the floor, nude, on top of the brother? Why would you do something like that? Why would you stage something like that?"
"But when I went outside and we saw the blood outside, so the brother was outside where he got shot, because he got shot. But I said, if he would have gotten shot, the entire neighborhood would have heard because like I said, I live a house away from that establishment. My daughter was here, the people that were in the apartment didn't hear any shooting around that time, so it would have had to be done early in the morning."
"Then we understand that he went for his brother 3 in the morning from his house, in the morning. And he never returned home."
But with the initial story already out there, social media lit up with accusations and judgements, which Rowland said only devastated the family more.
Cindy Rowland, Sister of Deceased
"It hurts us deeply and people will be people. The minute you say something, people will take it, it's human being. I ignore a lot because I know what happened, my family knows what happened, so we try to, I personally, when I put out my post, I block out the entire social media. I put up and I put out what I had to say, because we know what happened."
"And all of us are taking it very hard because my sister was very loving. She was very loving, she would call you, hey sis, I love you sis. She was the one who was really nice, she would get up and do all kind of little stupid things and dance around and play around and, 'if you need anything just let me know sis.' That is her, she's very kindhearted and I know she loved Miguel and I also know that Miguel loved her."
"They had a lot of plans for the business, they were building their house, so they had a lot of plans."
And now, all Rowland has are the memories of her big sister.
Cindy Rowland, Sister of Deceased
"Over the years, I must say, nobody couldn't interfere with us. She was feisty, she was the one who was going to fight. She's the protector of us. Me, I am the one who will say, don't do it, don't get into no hassle. But she's the one who will right away, you want I go beat up them for you? She's the fight one, everybody knows that about her. From a child growing up, my mom used to always go to school because every Friday she catch in a fight. But she calmed down a lot. She matured, she calmed down, man, she did a big 360 with her life when she met Miguel. I haven't heard her get into one altercation."
"I knew Miguel is sorry for what he did. He didn't want to kill Dez, he loved Dez too much, he was overprotective of Dez, he loved her. He did anything and everything for her, all he wanted was for her to be smiling. That I can tell you. So only God knows what happened, only he can cure it."
Now, the family is anxiously awaiting the results of the postmortem to tell them exactly when both victims were killed, and to hopefully shed some light on what really happened in Ladyville.
We should note that the commissioner of police told us that her account, quote, "is inconsistent with the (crime) scene."
As we told you yesterday, Gonzalez was the mother of seven children, one of whom had already passed away.
