On the second anniversary of her daughter's brutal death, Evelyn Rodriguez returned to the scene of her murder in Long Island, New York.
The sun shone brightly as she laid candles, balloons and a large floral wreath next to a smiling photo of 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas.
Hours later, Rodriguez, 50, learned that the vigil she had held in Kayla's honor had disappeared.
She returned to the scene of the crime and after a brief struggle, Rodriguez was run over by the woman who had torn down the monument to her daughter.
The grieving mother was murdered - in the exact same spot her daughter was murdered, on the exact same day of the year.
But the terrible turn of events had nothing to do with the family.
Six years later, the woman who hit Rodriguez did not have to go to prison for her death.
"There will still be no peace in my heart or my family's heart," Rodriguez's daughter Kelsey Cuevas, 26, said in court, according to CBS News.
MS-13 murder
The tragic turn of events began in 2016.
Kayla and her best friend Nisa Mickens, 15, became embroiled in a feud with a classmate, who was a member of La Mara Salvatrucha - better known as MS-13.
The group formed in the 1980s in impoverished neighborhoods of Los Angeles and initially consisted of Salvadoran immigrants.
Today, the violent transnational gang numbers approximately 80,000 members and is considered one of the most ruthless groups in the underworld, living by the twisted motto: "Kill, Rape, Control."
Suffolk County has been a hotbed of MS-13 activity for more than two decades. Federal authorities say the group is responsible for more than two dozen murders on Long Island since 2013.
On September 14, 2016, a group of gang members, including Enrique Portillo, were patrolling the Hispanic neighborhood of Brentford in their car when they spotted Kayla and Nisa.
They chased the two best friends with machetes and baseball bats.
The two teenagers were brutally assaulted and beaten to death.
Kayla's body was found the next day behind a house.
After her daughter's death, Rodriguez became a symbol in the fight against gang violence in MS-13.
Mourners knocked on doors, harassed police and eventually came into contact with then-President Donald Trump.
Kayla's murder was a defining moment in the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigrants, gangs and "MS-13 violent animals."
In January 2018, Rodriguez was a guest at Trump's State of the Union address.
MS-13's grip on Long Island eventually began to loosen thanks to Rodriguez's unwavering determination.
Portillo later pleaded guilty to the two murders in September 2023. MS-13 leader Alexi Saenz also pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his involvement in last month's killings.
Tragedy strikes twice
The day before the second anniversary of the murders, Rodriguez appeared in a five-minute segment on Fox & Friends campaigning against gang violence in schools.
Less than 24 hours later, on September 14, 2018, she returned to the site in Brentford to erect a memorial to her daughter.
The sidewalk in front of the house had long been frequented by relatives who lit candles and poured drinks in memory of the murdered teenagers.
The woman who lived in the building had had enough of the gatherings and had moved out. According to her lawyers, her daughter Annmarie Drago had to sell the house.
Drago, a nurse from Patchogue, had enough and took the monument apart and put it in the back of her car.
When Rodriguez heard that Drago had ended the vigil, he returned to the scene and confronted her as she pulled out of the driveway in her white Nissan Rogue.
The nurse started to speed up - and Rodriguez started screaming.
Drago hit Rodriguez in the foot with the car's front tire, sending her to the sidewalk.
Drago continued driving and ran over Rodriguez with her rear tire, fatally crushing her.
Rodriguez was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the hospital.
The gruesome scene was captured on video by a local news team and later confirmed by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.
Donald Trump tweeted about her death: "My thoughts and prayers are with Evelyn Rodriguez tonight, along with her family and friends."
The process
In November, Drago was charged with manslaughter.
In February 2020, she was put on trial, with the court forced to watch the tragic video over and over again.
She was convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison, but served only a week before being released on bail pending her appeal.
A high court subsequently overturned Drago's conviction in 2022 and ordered a new trial after ruling that the prosecutor had made "inappropriate comments during the trial."
In October, she was retried by prosecutors, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charges.
In 2023, she returned to court to stand trial, where her attorney Matthew Hereth described Rodriguez's death as a "tragic accident."
In May, Drago pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was tried for the third time.
The families of Rodriguez and Cuevas said they were forced to make light of their deaths every day because of the seemingly endless ordeal.
The Public Prosecution Service had proposed a sentence of one to three years, but on Tuesday a judge told the 63-year-old woman that she would not receive a prison sentence at all.
She stood emotionless in the courtroom as she was given five years' probation.
Rodriguez and Kayla's loved ones cried. It wasn't the outcome they had hoped for.
"I will never forgive you for what you did," one of Rodriguez's surviving daughters, Kaitlyn Cuevas, 14, said in court.
Kelsey said The New York Times She feels like she hasn't even had a chance to grieve for her mother yet.
"When will it end?" she asked.
"When can I sit here and grieve in peace?"
For her and Rodriguez and Kayla's other loved ones, the Brentford home - though repainted - remains a constant reminder of their tragic deaths.
