![](\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
*Dolores and *Philip were looking forward to their daughter *Melissa\u2019s high school graduation. They had spent so much time visiting colleges and were so relieved that she had just been accepted to her first choice.<\/p>\n
But one day, their hopes and dreams for Melissa\u2019s future were taken away \u2013 shot down in a single moment. While walking home from school, 17-year-old Melissa was killed by a stray bullet.<\/p>\n
Dolores and Philip were devastated and in need of help. The police overseeing Melissa\u2019s murder investigation told them about the resources Safe Horizon offers to families of homicide victims.<\/p>\n
Dolores and Philip worked with Vilma Torres<\/a>, now the Director of Safe Horizon’s staff at the Bronx Family Justice Center. Family Justice Centers\u00a0<\/a>(FJCs) address victims\u2019 needs by bringing together social and legal service agencies, police, district attorneys, and other key personnel together under one roof.<\/p>\n For decades she has worked with people like Dolores and Philip and helped them every step of the way towards healing.<\/p>\n We help thousands of people like Dolores and Philip by providing:<\/p>\n The couple recently told us about the help they received:<\/p>\n \u201cWe were distraught parents who lost the precious treasure that was our daughter\u2019s life…With constant and untiring work, with love and care, Vilma kept in touch with us through birthdays, Mother\u2019s Day and the holidays to remind us what a beautiful gift it was to have our daughter. Through Vilma, we celebrate our daughter\u2019s life rather than mourn her loss, and know that as long as she is in our hearts, she is with us always.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Grief over the loss of a loved one doesn\u2019t have an endpoint. That\u2019s why our resources for families of homicide victims don\u2019t have a time limit. Melissa was murdered in 1987, and Vilma is still in touch with Dolores and Philip today.<\/p>\n * Client names and identifying information have been changed to protect their privacy. Images used are representations of Safe Horizon\u2019s clients.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe celebrate our daughter\u2019s life rather than mourn her loss, and know that as long as she is in our hearts, she is with us always.\u201d<\/em> – Dolores and Philip found comfort at the Family Justice Center after their daughter\u2019s tragic death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":{"id":1568,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":300,"height":388,"file":"2016\/06\/1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","ewww_image_optimizer":"Reduced by 6.9% (594.0 B)","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave-232x300.jpg","width":232,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","ewww_image_optimizer":"Reduced by 5.2% (1,018.0 B)","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave-232x300.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]},"ewww_image_optimizer":"Reduced by 4.4% (1.8 kB)"},"post":1380,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1433949377_Flowers-at-Grave.jpg"},"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[697,397],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-crime-victims","tag-families-of-homicide-victims","issue-victims-of-other-abuse"],"acf":{"page_header_excerpt":"\u201cWe celebrate our daughter\u2019s life rather than mourn her loss, and know that as long as she is in our hearts, she is with us always.\u201d - Dolores and Philip found comfort at the Family Justice Center after their daughter\u2019s tragic death.","related_initiative_link":"\/our-services\/legal-and-court-help\/family-justice-centers\/","original_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/page\/dolores-and-philips-story-the-memory-of-melissa-368.html","page_header_title":"","page_header_image":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png","related_initiative_title":"How do we help family members of homicide victims?","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn about our services","featured_posts":[],"show_author_bio":false},"yoast_head":"\n\n