SACRAMENTO, Calif. — “One of your best friends calls and says her daughter passed away, there’s no words,” Michele Smith said.
Smith, from Folsom, described the moments she got the call informing her family friend Leilani Beauchamp had been killed.
“Then the details which are not on the news are even more shocking,” Smith said.
Smith said Beauchamp went by the nickname “Lani," and grew up in the Folsom area. She graduated high school in Carmel and was going to college in San Jose.
She loved makeup and cooking for her family.
“Lani would make food that was absolutely, like why go out when you can cook that well," Smith said. "So I would say that was definitely one of her hobbies."
Prosecutors allege Jessica Quintanilla shot Beauchamp after a Halloween party in Sacramento. She was seen in court for the first time Tuesday along with her brother Marco Quintanilla, who is also charged.
Juan Parra-Peralta, from Fairfield and a US Airmen stationed at Travis Air Force base, was arrested for accessory to murder but prosecutors haven’t decided whether to charge him yet.
“Lani, as far as I know, she was dating one of the individuals,” Smith said.
Describing Beauchamp as big-hearted, kind, and caring the 19-year-old's family now plans a memorial service in Folsom while, Smith says demanding justice for their girl.
“Those three people need to be convicted and never shown the light of day,” Smith said.
