Family seeks answers in Modesto woman’s fatal shooting

Family members of Sylvia Chavarria are at a loss as to why the south Modesto woman was shot to death at her home early Wednesday, the victim’s niece said Thursday.

Chavarria, a 28-year-old mother of four girls and two boys, all under the age of 12, was pronounced dead at her home in the 400 block of East Hatch Road after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“We really don’t know the whole 100 percent story,” niece Jessenia Gonzales said Thursday. “The story is all over the place,” she added, but it’s her understanding that Chavarria was sitting outside on a porch when two men approached and shot her.

“There was no argument, nothing,” Gonzales said. Chavarria’s three youngest children, all under the age of 4, were inside the house with a family friend, she said, and did not witness the killing. “They don’t know anything; we’re not telling them anything.”

The victim’s three older children lived with their grandmother but “were always back and forth” to their mother’s home, too, Gonzales said.

“She was a single mom of six just getting by, always trying to do stuff for her children. They were her priority,” Gonzales said. “She had a hard struggle, that’s for sure. But things were getting better for her.”

A stay-at-home mom with a youngest child who just turned 2, Chavarria was struggling financially, Gonzales said, and none of the kids has a father active in their lives. “There was a lot of pressure, but she always was trying to do the right thing.”

Chavarria lost custody of her three older children some years back, “and my grandma took over,” Gonzales said, without elaborating on what caused her aunt to lose custody. Chavarria went to Mexico for a while, she said, but came back and was working toward regaining custody of the older children.

“She was looking forward to yesterday,” Gonzales said Thursday. Chavarria had been painting her kids’ rooms and was going to get furniture the day she was killed. “She was fixing up her home just a little bit. She had stickers on the walls with positive quotes.”

Relatives hope that anyone who can help with the investigation into Chavarria’s death will come forward to Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department investigators or Crime Stoppers, Gonzales said.

She has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for her aunt’s funeral expenses. Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/27h8dyc.

No funeral arrangements have been made, Gonzales said, because the family doesn’t know the schedule for Chavarria’s autopsy.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Family seeks answers in Modesto woman’s fatal shooting."