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Who was Roxana Sanchez? Florida mom-of-two, 36, shot dead by 2 men in failed carjacking hours before Mother's Day

'She lived for her husband and her two kids,' Sanchez’s sister Yahaira Viado said, 'that’s all she would talk about'

ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: The family of a 36-year-old mom killed in an attempted carjacking outside her house just hours before her planned Mother’s Day celebration is now pleading for answers in her tragic death.

Sanchez was fatally shot just after 12.30 am on Sunday, May 9, in her driveway, after two men approached her and a friend returning from a night out shopping and having dinner, Orange County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt Joe Covelli said. The two unidentified men were following Sanchez and her friend into her east Orange subdivision, pulling behind them in the driveway of the home in the 10000 block of Lecon Branch Court. The two men allegedly came out of their car, banged on the windows of Sanchez’s car demanding them to exit the car, Covelli said. Out of fear, the driver put the car in reverse, hitting the front of the suspects’ vehicle, at which point the man on the passenger side fired his gun at the car, striking Sanchez.

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Sanchez, a mother of two young boys, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The sheriff’s office has not yet determined a description of either suspect yet. Covelli stated that the vehicle is a light-color four-door sedan with a sunroof, but further details have not been confirmed. The driver with Sanchez was not identified. “We’re currently out there right now, trying to follow up on any leads,” Covelli said. “Check your video, businesses, anybody who has drive cams in your cars. We’re asking for your help... This was a tragedy that did not need to happen.” The police released this footage from the scene:

“I just want to ask the public, the county, the state, if you have any information, please call,” said Douglas Mejia, Roxana Sanchez’s husband of almost 16 years. “She was gone way too soon, especially on a glorious day — Sunday, Mother’s Day.” Mejia said his wife was their family’s rock, an extremely caring and giving person who meant the world to him and their sons, 8 and 11. The couple would have been married 16 years in August. “She lived for her husband and her two kids,” Sanchez’s sister Yahaira Viado said. “That’s all she would talk about.”

The morning of her death, Viado said, Sanchez’s sons didn’t know what to do, because they had plans to celebrate their mom. “They made all these cards for her that they never got to give to her,” she said, trying to hold back her tears. Viado has made a GoFundMe page for her sister that has raised $37,991 of the $50,000 goal for Sanchez's "hospital and funeral expenses."

Covelli said Sanchez and her friend were in the Waterford Lakes shopping center, before returning to her home in the Winding Creek neighborhood, off Dean Road, south of Lake Underhill Road. He said it wasn’t clear at what point the two men started following Sanchez’s vehicle. Viado said the two men who attacked and killed Sanchez “took her from us way too soon.” “She wasn’t doing anything to you,” Viado said. “We just want to know why, why you have to do that to her?” She and Mejia urged the suspects to own up to the crime that tore their family apart, or for people who might know them to come forward. “If you do have any information... just please call,” Viado said. “We want justice for our sister.”

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 407-254-7000 or call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.