Lylliana Mendoza was always smiling and laughing, but her sister said it was to hide her pain.
Lily, as everyone called her, had been a victim of domestic violence at the hands of the man she lived with in Fairhill for about three years, according to her sister, Alexandra Mendoza.
During the summer of 2017, Lily and her niece traveled to Puerto Rico, where their family is from, and Alexandra insisted that her sister move in with her when she returned home.
“I would tell her, ‘Lily come with me, come home with me, I don’t want anything to happen to you, Lily. Please take your stuff or leave your stuff there and just come home with me,’” Alexandra said.
Alexandra believes Lily intended on taking her up on her offer, but she never got the opportunity. She was shot and killed while sitting in a vehicle outside of her home on Lawrence Street in Fairhill on July 12, 2017. Aslemarie Torres, 19, whom Lily saw as her stepdaughter, was with her at the time and was also killed. No arrests have been made.
Alexandra, who is three years older than Lily, said her sister was always there for her, and vice versa.
“Between us, it was a perfect relationship. I knew her whole life,” Alexandra said. “Every time she had a problem with something, she would call me and we used to sit down and talk. Every problem I used to have, that’s the person I used to talk to. I really miss her.”
Lily was born July 22, 1981 in Puerto Rico. She had two sons, who are now 17 and 20 and live out of state. In addition to Alexandra, Lily had another sister who lives in Florida and a brother.
Alexandra moved to Philadelphia about 18 years ago, and Lily followed her two or three years later. Lily had worked in a warehouse, and most recently had a job cleaning offices.
About three years prior to her death, she moved in with a man who lived on Lawrence Street. Although they appeared to be together, Lily would insist to her family that he was a roommate. Her family started noticing bruises after that.
“When I would go to see her, sometimes she wouldn’t come out,” Alexandra said. “Or she would have bruises on her body. I would ask about them and she would say she fell down the steps. I would tell her, ‘You can’t lie to me, I’m your sister’ and she told me he hit her with the bottom of a gun.”
Lily sought help and spoke to a therapist, Alexandra said. Her family would urge her to leave, but she felt stuck and afraid of what would happen to her if she left, or if she stayed.
“He used to threaten her. He used to say if she leaves him he would kill her,” Alexandra said. “I used to tell her, ‘You need someone better than him.’ I used to tell her, ‘He’s gonna kill you, he’s gonna kill you, he’s going to do something, he’s gonna kill you.’ Every time I’d see her I’d tell her the same thing. And she would say, I’m gonna leave, I’m gonna leave.”
Lily and her niece returned from Puerto Rico in early July, and she was killed two weeks later.
Alexandra said she hasn’t spoken to the detectives, but she has a lot she wants to share with them.
It’s been hard to live without her best friend, Alexandra said. After she learned the news, she didn’t want to believe it was true and kept calling her phone, hoping it was all a big mistake and she would answer.
Lily dreamed of a better life. She wanted to get her own place, to get her kids back, to leave behind the trauma she was experiencing.
“She had a lot of dreams,” Alexandra said. “She used to say she wanted to live her life the correct way, and not be scared anymore.”
“She was a very special person,” Alexandra said. “She was my everything.”
Lily is survived by her mother, her siblings and her sons. She was preceded in death by another sister, who died of complications from diabetes. Lily is laid to rest at Merion Memorial Park in Bala Cynwyd.
The City of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 as a reward for anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the murders of Lily and Aslelmarie Torres. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
If you are a victim of domestic violence, help is available by calling the Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline at 866-723-3014 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE.
Date: 2017-07-12
Location: 3000 N Lawrence St, Philadelphia, PA
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