In early November 2011, Cherry Ledesma was looking forward to a fresh start.

She was living in temporary housing, run by a social agency while waiting to get into a substance abuse treatment program. 

Ledesma battled addictions most of her life and had been in treatment before but this time she was determined to make it work.

The mother of five was very close with her kids. They regularly called and often stopped by to see her.

But for a couple days that month, no one could reach her. She wasn’t answering her phone.

Her common-law husband told her son she went downtown.

That wasn’t uncommon, but it didn’t make sense for her to stay out for more than a few hours at a time.

Later that night, police were called.

When investigators arrived, they went into the basement where they found an ominous message on the wall.

And just a few feet away from that message — a grisly discovery.

On the latest episode of the Global News podcast Crime Beat, crime reporter Nancy Hixt shares what happened to Cherry Ledesma, and how it changed the course of her daughter’s life “The girl who became a warrior."

Contact:

Twitter: @nancyhixt

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancy.hixt/?hl=en 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyHixtCrimeBeat/

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