Remembering Lizbeth

By Jessica Coleman

Contributing Writer

     Sixteen-year-old Lizbeth Medina was, according to those who loved her, a shining beacon of contagious happiness. Known lovingly as Liz or Lizzo, she had moved to Edna with her mother just a year and a half ago, and carved herself out a place as someone who was popular and kind to her classmates. She participated in Junior Varsity cheer and wanted to eventually become a nurse.

     “She wanted to help people,” said her mother, Jacqueline Medina. “She wanted to do something with her life.”

     That light was snuffed out on Tuesday, December 5, when Jacqueline found her daughter unresponsive in the bathtub in their home at Cottonwood Apartments. She called police, but it was too late. Lizbeth was pronounced dead a short time later.

     On Saturday, December 9, police would apprehend Rafael Govea Romero, an undocumented Schulenburg resident who arrived in the United States over five years ago and overstayed his Visa. Romero would ventually confess to the crime. 

     Jacqueline believes her daughter helped find the man who did this to her.

    “I knew it was my Lizzo helping them,” she said. “I asked her ‘Mami please, Mami please help them find who did this to you.’”

     In the hours before national and international news picked up the story, Edna was just a small community mourning one of its own.

     As her friends showed up to school the next day, and in the days that followed, reality began to set in that she was really gone. Friends shared memories, painting a picture of an outgoing, understanding, and compassionate person who truly wanted to be a good friend.

     “She helped me through a lot when I was going through some things, and was a very bubbly and fun person,” said classmate Ethan McConnell. “She truly was a good friend to us all.”

     Classmate Lola Whittley said Liz was an “amazing person” who inspired laughter and loved cheer, soccer, and her favorite color – purple.

     Jatavian Thornton called her “The best part of our group.

     Teresa Andrade said, “her laughter and excitement filled the class.”

     “She would literally do anything for you,” said Sayli Escobar.

     As she plans her daughter’s funeral, Jacqui Medina reflects on a time she was planning her daughter’s future. “She talked about going to the University of Arlington,” she said, trying to maintain her composure and wiping away tears. “We went to the roundup on the 29th. We had just gone there. We were talking about me buying a house in Dallas or Fort Worth so she could stay in the house and not pay rent.”

     Lizbeth Medina will be laid to rest on December 12 in Grand Island Nebraska, where most of her family resides.