Loved ones are mourning the loss of a mother of two who was murdered last month in Las Vegas by a man who had killed before, KLAS-TV reports.
Around 5:15 p.m. on February 20, Las Vegas police were dispatched to a residence on Andorra Street for a report of an unresponsive woman. Officers arrived to find 36-year-old Jessica Russo with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the home.
Laura Castelle, Russo’s mother, said she went to her daughter’s home to check on her after she didn’t pick up her kids from school and could not be reached.
“I had my boyfriend kick the door open,” Castelle told KLAS-TV. “And she was dead on the floor.”
“I ran to her and cradled her in my arms and was just screaming,” the grieving mother added.
Investigators believe that 36-year-old Mark Michael Ford murdered Russo and then, five days later, killed 44-year-old John Dorotiak Jr. Ford was later found dead in a vehicle with what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Fox5 reported that Russo and Dorotiak worked together for a while, but the extent of relationships, if any, the victims had with Ford has not been released publicly. Authorities also have not disclosed any potential motives for the fatal shootings.
Ford had been on parole after being convicted in 2003 of second-degree murder. When he was 15 years old, Ford fatally stabbed a man while trying to burglarize the victim’s home. He was sentenced to life in prison but was eligible for parole after serving 20 years behind bars, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Castelle described her daughter as both “spicy” and “beautiful.”
“She did not deserve what has happened to her,” Castelle told KLAS-TV. “She was just a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful person who would do anything for anybody.”
Castelle added: “Jessica was such a wonderful mother, daughter, and friend to so many. She is my only daughter. I have two sons, she was my best friend.”
The family is raising money to help with the cost of transporting Russo back to her family in New York and for a funeral and burial.
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[Feature Photo: Jessica Russo/GoFundMe]
