Herndon Homicide Victims' Family Launches GoFundMe Campaign

HERNDON, VA — A family member of the mother and two children killed over the weekend in Herndon has launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for funeral expenses.

"It is with deep sadness that we have to share this tragic and unexpected loss of my dear sister, nephew and niece," Dora Menjivar said, on the GoFundMe page. "This news had shaken the entire community."

Part of the money raised from the GoFundMe campaign will go toward supporting Claudia Menjivar's surviving child. As of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the campaign had raised more than $3,600 toward its goal of $30,000.

"Claudia left a 16-year old son back in El Salvador," Dora Menjivar said. "He is living with his elderly grandparents and she was his only support."

Town Herndon Police discovered the bodies of 34-year-old Claudia Menjivar and her children, Dayana Gutierrez, 12, and Carlos Josué Gutierrez, 10, on Saturday morning. The officers were acting on a request from Fairfax County Police to conduct a welfare check at a residence in the 500 block of Florida Avenue in Herndon.

Earlier in the day, FCPD had responded to the report of a man threatening to jump from a Reston Town Center parking garage. During their negotiations with the man, police learned that people at the Florida Avenue address may have been harmed. The man then killed himself

Lisa Herndon, an HPD spokeswoman, confirmed Tuesday that the medical examiner's report had determined Claudia Menjivar and her children's deaths to be homicides. She added that the manner of their deaths was not being released at this time.

Herndon also confirmed that the the three homicides and the suicide case, which is being investigated by FCPD, are related. She said the suicide victim had a relationship with the mother in the triple-homicide case.

"My sister Claudia Menjivar was a strong, hardworking woman whom loved her children and lived for her children," Dora Menjivar wrote. "They adored their mom and now they are in heaven together. We will never understand such a vicious crime that has left us in deep pain. She always said if something happened to her, her wish was to be buried back in our country El Salvador. Our parents are elderly and it is their last wish; to see their daughter one last time."

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.

Related:

Triple Homicide: Family Members Mourn Deaths Of Mother, 2 Kids