RICHMOND, Va. -- From her Brooklyn, New York home, Tonya Escobar told me her daughter Eboniece was in Richmond to see her sister.
Escobar said she'd spoken to her on the day she was killed, and said Eboniece promised she'd be home next week for the holiday. "But he took my baby from me," she said.
She has one painful question: "To the guy who shot my daughter, my heart wants to know why, but I don't think he even knows why," Escobar asked Thursday.
From her tablet in Brooklyn New York, Escobar reacted to the news that Richmond Policehave arrested two in St. Croix, Virgin Islands for her daughter’s murder and they're looking for a third. Police say J'wa Charlery is still at large.
"Please just turn yourself in. They're going to find you,” said Escobar, addressing the suspect. “Make it easy on yourself and turn yourself in."
Eboniece Escobar was found shot to death in her Clarion hotel room the night of November 2.
Using surveillance footage, Richmond detectives discovered that she had also been at a gas station across the street earlier that day.
A man who wanted CBS-6 to hide his identity said he saw Escobar and two men walk in. He also said the clerk turned her away when she tried to buy cigarettes because she didn't have her ID with her.
"When I got a call saying something happened, I just felt it was her, you know what I mean?" he said.
Eboniece was twenty-two years old. Her mom said she had a bright future ahead, one that was taken by a thug with a gun.
She said the holiday season for the Escobar family will never be the same. "We had talked the day she was killed, and she told me she was coming home to help cook Thanksgiving," said Escobar.
Eboniece Escobar was one of 10 children.
If you know where J'wa Charlery is tonight, call police.
