No suspects reported in woman’s death
Victim discovered by grandson, daughter in case termed homicide
When Blanca Renova, 54, hadn’t answered the phone in two days, her daughter and grandson went to check on her at her home near Central and Wyoming last Friday.
Renova didn’t answer the door and it was locked, so her grandson Jesus climbed in through a window.
That’s when, she said, the 4-year-old found his grandmother’s body on the bathroom floor. Vizcarra said Renova had been dead two days.
Nancy Vizcarra told her sister Renova’s hair was “full of blood” and she had a cut in her neck.
What authorities first considered a “suspicious death” was quickly changed to a homicide investigation, Officer Simon Drobik said last Friday.
Drobik said they don’t have a motive or suspects, but Renova did file a restraining order in March, citing fears about someone with whom she had a relationship.
Linda Vizcarra said she was in shock when Nancy called from the scene with the news.
“I didn’t believe it — I didn’t cry — I didn’t do anything,” Linda Vizcarra said. “I was broken.”
APD spokesman Fred Duran has not answered any questions about the case since. He has not said if there are any suspects in the case.
For Vizcarra, the thought of her mother’s killer on the streets is too much to bear.
“I don’t have words,” she said. “It’s just awful.”
The last time Linda Vizcarra saw her mother was on April 22, when she visited Albuquerque after returning from Mexico. Vizcarra brought her mother cheese and honey from her travels.
“She was really happy,” she said.
Renova spoke of traveling to Montana, where Vizcarra lives with her daughter, to work — plans that would never come to fruition.
Renova was raised in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua Mexico, Linda Vizcarra said. She was a hard worker who often held down two or more jobs.
Linda Vizcarra described her mother as a person with “a lot of character.”
She said Renova loved nice dresses, high heels and — most of all — dancing.
“That was her favorite thing,” Vizcarra said, particularly cumbia dancing.
Vizcarra will remember Renova as a “great” mom and “amazing” grandmother to 11 grandchildren.
“She was always happy — always full of life,” she said.