Fund created to help children of murdered woman
Victim left behind 3 young boys
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

Josefina Lanuza Gutierrez was on the quiet side, but she never thought twice about helping a friend in need.

Whenever a fellow member of the small Spanish congregation at Simi Valley Church of Christ needed someone to talk to, Gutierrez, 44, would lend a caring ear. She belonged to the church for the last 13 years.

Odalis HawitRivera, a longtime friend, told the Simi Valley Acorn she remembered calling Gutierrez just days before she was found dead inside her home on Sunday, March 16.

"I called that Friday night to tell her we needed to pray for another lady in our church who had a relative that passed away," Rivera said. "We prayed for someone else, not knowing that she was going to be next."

Just before 8 a.m. on March 16, Gutierrez- a loving wife and mother of three young boys- was stabbed to death inside her bedroom. Three days later, police arrested her nephew, 19-year-old Luis Angel Gutierrez, and charged him with murder.

Now the Simi Valley Police Department, partnered with First California Bank, has initiated a fund to help the Gutierrez family give Josefina a proper internment.

"As public servants, we wanted to provide them with all the services we could," said Capt. Roy Jones. "(Simi Valley) is generally such a safe community that when a tragedy happens like this, we do try to go a step further than we might be able to if we lived in a community like Los Angeles, where this might be a daily occurrence."

Josefina Gutierrez lived with her immediate family and five other relatives, including her nephew, in a house on the 800 block of Moffatt Circle. She worked at Burger King in the Target plaza for the last 10 years.

Luis Gutierrez came to California legally from Mexico and moved into the house a year ago.

On the morning of her death, Gutierrez' husband, Abel, had gone to his construction job. When he arrived home, police were already at the house because another relative had called 911 after discovering Josefina's body.

Rivera said she knew something was wrong when Gutierrez didn't show up for their women's ministry meeting the following Monday night- the biweekly event that Gutierrez herself was responsible for coordinating through the Church of Christ.

"It's been a really bad tragedy," Rivera said. "We're just really close. We've all been together (at the church) for so long. Every single sister in the group is really devastated. We just can't accept it."

Gutierrez was always very comforting and generous, Rivera said. Every time the women's ministry meeting was at the Gutierrez home, all the other ladies would be excited to come, partly because of Josefina's exceptional cooking.

"Whatever she had, if you say you like it, she'd say, 'Take it,' especially food," Rivera said fondly. "When you found out the meeting was going to be at her house, you knew she would go all-out with full meals. That's just how she was. Then at the end, she'd say, 'Take some for your sister' or, 'Take some for your husband.'"

Rivera said the hardest thing about the tragedy is that Gutierrez is no longer there to comfort everyone.

"We still have that feeling of wanting to call her, except she's not there to call," her friend said. "This time, it's about her."

For more information about the Gutierrez Family Fund, contact Dee Dee Cavanaugh, vice president of First California Bank at (805) 426-0800. Those interested in making a donation should mail a check, made out to Gutierrez Family Fund, or bring one in to the bank at 1685 Simi Town Center Way, Simi Valley, CA 93065.