Community remembers Rancho Cordova mother, children killed in murder-suicide
We are learning more about the victims of the Rancho Cordova murder-suicide.
"I keep seeing the kids' faces and smiles," said owner and founder of a Seat at the Table Books and Coffee, Emily Autenrieth.
Those images are written in Autenrieth's mind and heart — the 13-year-old boy, his 11-year-old sister and their mother, Lindsey Peralta Vallerga — all victims in the murder-suicide.
"When I got this idea for this bookstore café, Lindsey was one of my first supporters," said Autenrieth.
Lindsey had an award-winning tutoring business just a few doors down from Autenrieth's; their connection was instant, from motherhood to education to boss women.
"She really was a quiet leader in that way," said Autenrieth. "She really was setting an example for all of us."
Autenrieth said the children used to spend a lot of time in the bookstore café, where their curiosity to learn grew.
"Both of them had this interest of changing the world and making things better for others and really serving," Autenrieth said.
Those dreams were taken from them in an instant when the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said their father, David Vallerga, fired his gun and then turned it on himself inside their Rancho Cordova home.
"I barely knew him," Autenrieth said. "He wasn't as involved here as far as I could tell."
Autenrieth said Lindsey had gotten a little less responsive in recent weeks.
"I just figured life is busy," Autenrieth said. "Business owners get very overwhelmed."
She never imagined what could have been going on behind closed doors.
"As a parent of two kids around a similar age, it is actually really hard to wrap my mind around this happening," Autenrieth said.
"More than half of women who are murdered in the United States are killed by a current or recent partner," said the CEO of WEAVE, Beth Hassett.
Hassett runs the nonprofit crisis and domestic violence intervention group and said it is important to look for signs if your neighbors may be struggling.
"Learn how to respond in an empathetic and caring way to somebody so that they know they are not alone," Hassett said.
Autenrieth hopes the family's story is not defined by this moment, but instead by the light they carried, where a community takes care of each other.
"I hope they can remember Lindsey and her children for their joy and their care for their community and their very open hearts," Autenrieth said.
Autenrieth hosted a grief circle on Thursday evening at the bookstore café to lean on each other during this time.