Turlock sisters reflect on bond, stabbing victim’s inner beauty

Eva Gallardo was one of six sisters. They were inseparable as kids and remained best friends as adults. Gallardo and two of her sisters even rented houses next to each other in Turlock, three in a row in the 700 block of West Olive Avenue.

“We have always been a very close knit family. Sometimes people get us mixed up,” said sister Juanita Cardona. “When we were young, it was always the Cardona girls, the Cardona six.”

On Easter Sunday, Gallardo, 44, and her 25-year-old daughter were stabbed in front of their West Olive home. Gallardo died two days later. Her daughter was treated and has since been released from the hospital.

Turlock police said the suspect, 40-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, confronted Gallardo over a cellphone she believed a family member had stolen. But her two neighbor sisters Juanita and Rosemary Cardona, who witnessed the attack, said it happened within seconds, unprovoked, and that no words were exchanged about a cellphone.

Four of the sisters spoke to The Modesto Bee on Friday. They were hesitant to discuss details of the attack, concerned that it would interfere with the investigation but also because they wanted to reflect on who their sister was, not the violent way in which she died.

“We want the way she lived her life, and the beauty that she had, not only the outward beauty but the inside, the giving nature that she had and the generous person that she was, that’s the story we want to share with people,” said sister Norma Perez. “We lost someone who we dearly loved and it is hurting us, and it is hurting her children and this process is not going to be over when we bury her.”

Gallardo was the mother of two adult children, a son and a daughter, and a grandmother of a 3-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl. They all lived together on West Olive and Gallardo was the main provider for the family.

She worked in a male-dominated industry, doing the physically demanding work of a pasteurizer for a cheese company.

She helped make cheese, but she couldn’t eat any, her sisters said. Gallardo was allergic to dairy and eggs and maintained a strict vegan diet.

She was always trying to bake vegan for her family, but most of her recipes were not well-received.

“She used us as guinea pigs every holiday,” Rosemary Cardona said.

On Easter Sunday, her sisters said, she made a cake from the marshmallow candy Peeps that, for the first time, the family ate.

“She was so happy, so proud,” Perez said. “She said she was going to keep the recipe, it was a winner.”

Throughout the day, she talked about the fundraiser she was planning to help her nephew who suffers from a rare heart disease, she talked about work, and she talked about the annual trip she had planned with her sisters to Reno for Hot August Nights.

“She was saying she had a cute outfit to wear,” Juanita Cardona said. “She looked cute in everything.”

She said Gallardo was the tallest of the sisters and the only one to get their mother’s curly mane.

“She was beautiful,” said Maria Cardona. “Her smile just lit up the room. Since she was knee-high, her smile caught everybody’s attention.”

Gallardo helped clean up after the Easter festivities, which were at Rosemary Cardona’s house, then walked two doors down to her home.

Just after 10 p.m., Gallardo was in bed when someone began banging on her garage door. She and her daughter went outside to find an irate woman, whom Gallardo told to leave, according to her sisters.

Rosemary Cardona had just returned from walking her dog and Juanita Cardona had also come outside when she heard the banging.

They said none of them knew the woman or had ever seen her before.

Juanita Cardona said the woman was yelling profanities and within seconds lunged at Gallardo and her daughter; both were stabbed.

Juanita Cardona and her son went to their aid while Rosemary Cardona chased after the woman, who was running from the scene.

She said she chased her, yelling at her to stop. Twice she tripped on her flip flops, but got up and kept running.

“My thoughts were just that I had to run after her, because if I didn’t then she would have gotten away,” Rosemary Cardona said. “It was instinct, I guess ... I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight.”

Turlock police arrived within moments, apprehending Gonzalez about four blocks away on Columbia Avenue. She is being held on $2 million bail and is scheduled to be in court Wednesday.

“We will make it to every court date and we will seek justice for my sister,” said Perez. “We will always be six, no matter what, we will always be six. Her physical presence is gone but the way she lived, her spirit, and that love and that passion she had is going to live on; that is the gift she left with us.”

In addition to her five sisters, children and grandchildren, Gallardo is survived by three brothers, and nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents.

Services for Gallardo will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 650 N. Rose St. in Turlock. A viewing will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Mortuary at 247 N. Broadway Ave. in Turlock.

A memorial fund has been established for Gallardo at Valley First Credit Union. Donations can be made at any location under the Eva Gallardo Memorial Fund.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Frank Navarro at 209-664-7319.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Turlock sisters reflect on bond, stabbing victim’s inner beauty."