In a show of solidarity, heartbroken family members wore white to celebrate 26-year-old Jennifer Alfonso's life at her viewing in Hialeah Monday night.
Police said they found Alfonso’s body inside her South Miami townhouse in the 5500 block of Southwest 67th Avenue last Thursday after her husband Derek Medina confessed to fatally shooting her and posting a photo of her body on Facebook.
On Monday friends of the victim's parents like Vivian Vega, who is close to Alfonso's stepfather, came out to support him during this time. She says the man always thought of her as his own daughter.
"You just don't think [something like that will happen] from one day to the next. Something that escalated and exploded," said Vega.
The young mother leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s own mother is preparing to bury her daughter.
"She's destroyed what can I tell you? Like any mother," said Orlando Moya, a family friend.
Alfonso's loss is painful enough, but loved ones say the circumstances surrounding her death make it even more so for her family.
On Friday, Medina was denied bail during a bond hearing. He is charged with first-degree murder.
Medina told authorities he argued with his wife and pointed a gun at Alfonso, who later threatened to leave him, an arrest report said. She punched him when he didn’t have his gun, and then when he returned to confront her with the gun she grabbed a knife, but Medina took it from her. After she began punching him again, Medina shot her multiple times, the report said. After the shooting, Medina posted a photo of her body on Facebook, and a message that that said in part that he would go to prison or be sentenced to death for killing his wife.
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"I wish I didn't see it, something that's distasteful and disrespectful," said Vega.
"Unbelievable. No one should do that. It's horrible what he did," said Moya.
Alfonso's burial is scheduled for Tuesday at noon at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery, at 11411 NW 25th St. in Doral.
