Woman Killed In Tesla Road Stabbing Remembered As ‘Bubbly'

LIVERMORE, CA — Friends are mourning the loss of a Tracy woman who died after she was beaten, stabbed and left for dead near a desolate road in Livermore early Monday morning. A candlelight vigil was held in at Great Oaks Park in San Jose Tuesday night to remember 19-year-old Lizette Cuesta.

Friends who gathered during the vigil told ABC7 they will remember Cuesta being "bubbly" and "genuine." A GoFundMe fundraising campaign launched on Feb. 13 has garnered more than $8,000 in donations so far. Cuesta graduated from Silver Creek High in San Jose in 2016 and attended San Jose City College, according to her Facebook page.

Cuesta was discovered near mile marker 8.49 on Tesla Road about two miles west of the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area at about 2 a.m. Monday by UPS employee Richard Loadholt, who was on his way to work. Officials said Cuesta, who was dumped and left for dead, crawled on her stomach at least 100 yards in the dark in an effort to get help when Loadholt spotted her bleeding on the side of the rural road. She was airlifted to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where she was pronounced dead at 4:30 a.m.

Before she died, Cuesta was able to give what Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly described as "a very compelling dying declaration" about who stabbed her. Cuesta repeated the names of the alleged attackers multiple times to her rescuers, according to KCRA.

That information led them to arrest Daniel Gross, 19, and Melissa Jill Leonardo, 25, on suspicion of murder in Modesto Monday afternoon, Kelly said. Gross and Leonardo are being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Photo of Lizette Cuesta courtesy GoFundMe