A community procession and candlelight vigil will be held Thursday in memory of two young women found dead in a Montecito Heights park.
The bodies of 19-year-old Gabriela Calzada and 17-year-old Briana Gallegos, a Pico Rivera resident and student at Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies in Glassell Park, were found about 2:20 p.m. Oct. 28 near Mercury and Boundary avenues along a walking path through Ernest E. Debs Regional Park.
Their deaths have been classified as homicides and one report indicated one of the victims had been shot in the head.
Briana was reported missing about 9 p.m. Oct. 28, roughly seven hours after the bodies were found. Police have said the victims were fully clothed and did not appear to have been sexually assaulted. It was unclear how long the bodies had been at the park before they were found by a woman walking her dog.
LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith previously told City News Service the bodies had evidence of blunt-force trauma, but it’s unclear if that was the cause of death.
Citing the coroner’s office, NBC4 reported this week that Calzada had been shot in the head. Ed Winter of the coroner’s office declined to comment on the report, citing security holds that had been placed on the case by police.
The Eastside Mujeres Network community group will sponsor a procession and vigil in memory of the victims at 5 p.m. Thursday, beginning at Rose Hills Recreation Center, 4530 Mercury Ave. Participants will then march to Boundary Avenue and Victorine Street, near the site where the bodies were found. Organizers are asking participants to bring flowers and flashlights.
Online Gofundme pages have been created to help the families of each of the victims. A fundraising car wash will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Glassell Senior Center, 3750 Verdugo Road, to benefit Calzada’s family.
It was still unclear if the deaths were linked to a series of assaults that occurred in the same park last year. In August 2014, police released a composite drawing of a man wanted for accosting three women who were walking in the park on separate occasions.
According to police, the victim of the first attack on Jan. 13, 2014, was groped by a suspect on a bicycle. On June 25, 2014, a woman was approached by a man riding a green bicycle. The suspect asked her if he could use her cell phone, and then exposed his genitals to her.
On July 20, 2014, a woman was walking her dog when she was approached by a man armed with a knife. The suspect grabbed her by the shoulder and punched her in the face. When she fell to the ground, he stood over her, then ran away.
A 53-year-old woman told the Los Angeles Times last week that she and some friends were working out at the park around 11 a.m. Wednesday and saw two young women who appeared to be in their 20s.
The woman — who declined to give her name — told the paper she and her friends later passed a man along the trail who was wearing a cap and carrying a backpack, and he adjusted his cap and looked away from the women as he passed by.
— City News Service