Talia Sanchez, 26, participated in JROTC, band and wrestling in high school, and had aspirations of enrolling in a nursing program. Her whole body lit up when she smiled, her aunt said, and she absolutely adored her 7-month-old son, Levi.
Family photos courtesy of GoFundMe
Talia Sanchez was “bougie,” her aunt Teresa Lovitt said.
The 26-year-old worked for Louis Vuitton and loved to have her hair and nails done, but also didn’t care about breaking a nail if it was the result of her active lifestyle. She participated in JROTC, band and wrestling in high school, and had aspirations of enrolling in a nursing program.
Talia’s whole body lit up when she smiled, Lovitt said, and she absolutely adored her 7-month-old son, Levi.
Sanchez didn’t want Levi to grow up in a broken home, so she remained in a relationship with the boy’s father, 27-year-old Elijah Jordan Jacobo, even after Jacobo began hitting her last November, Lovitt said. According to Tarrant County court records, Jacobo was charged with assault at that time and the case was pending.
Last week, a welfare check ended with police finding Sanchez dead in her south Fort Worth apartment on Feb. 11. Two days later, Jacobo was arrested in El Paso on suspicion of murder in the death of his child’s mother, Fort Worth police said.
Results of an autopsy are pending to determine her cause of death. Fort Worth police haven’t told Sanchez’s family many details about the investigation, Lovitt said, but the family last heard from her on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 8. According to the family, Elijah called Talia’s mother, Venus Sanchez, to tell her that they had been in a “pretty nasty fight,” and Venus told him to take the baby and “get separate” from Talia.
“We have our suspicions that he probably killed her then, but we don’t know for sure yet,” Lovitt said. “We definitely didn’t hear from her again.”
Venus began noticing some irregularities at that point, Lovitt said. She had access to Talia’s location through a tracking app, and Talia’s movements weren’t lining up with what Venus knew her daughter’s schedule was. Levi’s daycare called Venus on Feb. 11 to ask if the baby was sick because he hadn’t been seen in a few days, and Talia’s job also called to say she had no-showed.
That’s when the Sanchez family called the police for the welfare check, and “that’s how we got here,” Lovitt said.
When police entered Talia’s apartment, baby Levi was nowhere to be found, Lovitt said. The child was later found in New Mexico with Jacobo’s family, who didn’t appear to know anything about what was going on in Fort Worth, Lovitt said. Talia’s parents have since taken custody of Levi.
“I can’t imagine that she was actually scared of Elijah,” Lovitt said of her niece. “I don’t think she had the kind of experience with the world, that she would ever think she was in real danger.”
Lovitt and all of her sisters have had firsthand experience with domestic violence, she said.
“We told her then, and we’ll tell anybody: he’s not going to change,” Lovitt said. “If he put his hands on you once, he’s going to do it again. You need to leave.”
Talia’s parents have had a photo of her enlarged to hang in their home, and when the photo was brought to Venus, she was holding Levi.
“He lunged forward to grab that picture,” Lovitt said. “He’s missing his mama. I don’t know what we’re gonna do — that’s a hole that can’t be filled.”
A GoFundMe for Sanchez’s family had raised just over $19,000 of its $27,500 goal on Tuesday.
If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence and needs help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
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Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.