How a Mother, Veteran, and Survivor Was Left Behind by the Very System Meant to Help Her
The dogs were still inside the tent when Lucrecia Macias Barajas’s daughter pulled back the flap and saw her mother’s body—badly disfigured, with visible injuries to her face. It was just past 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 13. Her phone had been pinging from the same Westlake encampment for over 24 hours.
“They ate my mom,” the daughter said later, describing how the dogs circled the body while police waited for Animal Services. It wasn’t until 1:30 a.m.—nearly seven hours later—that Lucrecia’s body was removed.
In interviews with Invisible People, three of Lucrecia’s daughters—who asked not to be named—shared vivid memories of their mother, painting a portrait far fuller than the one left behind in the tent…