Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez, Janelle Bello’s aunt, kneels at the site of the July 8 fatal shooting in front of a cross bearing both Bello and Ulises Ledesma’s names.
Courtesy of Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez
Janelle Bello told her mother, Valerie Valdez, she was going to visit her boyfriend in Dallas as they were grocery shopping on July 8 in Fort Worth. Though Bello assured Valdez she’d return before her babysitting gig Thursday morning, something didn’t feel right, Valdez remembered thinking. A mother’s intuition.
“Janelle, don’t go,” Valdez recalled telling her.
Her daughter replied, “Don’t worry. We’re just going to hang out.”
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Then, Thursday came, and Bello hadn’t come home. She hadn’t called, Valdez said, and her phone’s location had been the same for 15 hours. Dottie Conoly, whose two kids Bello was supposed to watch, hadn’t seen the 19-year-old either.
As a family, Valdez and her sisters, Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez and Kayla Arciniega, began searching. They called hospitals and police departments and drove around Mesquite, where her phone was last active, all wondering the same thing: Where is she?
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“The first thing a mother wants to know is if her child is okay,” Arciniega said.
“We all thought she was going to come back,” Conoly said, recalling a conversation she had with Bello’s brothers when she went looking for her. “But she didn’t.”
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Bello and her boyfriend, Ulises Ledesma, 18, died in South Dallas after a shooting in the 3400 block of Michigan Avenue shortly after 9:30 p.m., Dallas police previously said. The two were identified by the Dallas County medical examiner’s office.
Janelle Bello, right, and Ulises Ledesma, left, pose for a Christmas photo together.
Courtesy of Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez
What followed was an hours-long search for two juvenile suspects, according to police dispatch audio reviewed by The Dallas Morning News.
According to the audio, police were fanned out in two directions when the shooting occurred to exhaust various leads on where the suspects had fled, with no success.
As the night wore on, Bello’s family and friends had questions that police weren’t yet able to answer. The waiting was hard, Valdez said. Anxiety and frustration festered as she dwelled on Bello’s disappearance.
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Bello’s family said they weren’t told she was positively identified until July 10; some didn’t find out until the 11th.
Janelle Bello, right, walks alongside her aunt, Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez.
Courtesy of Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez
Once apprehended, the suspects, a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy, were taken to Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center, according to a previous police statement. They face capital murder charges.
The News requested the incident report, arrest warrant affidavits and 911 calls from the city of Dallas and police. They were sent to the attorney general’s office and ultimately denied due to the suspects’ ages and ongoing investigation.
“I’ve seen people saying there are a lot of shootings in Dallas, that it’s nothing new. But it’s something we never suspected would happen,” Gonzalez said. The one thing she knows, she said, is that Bello and Ledesma are no longer here.
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‘Ray of sunshine’
Bello was the oldest of four and set to graduate from high school in August. She had dreams of going to college and becoming an engineer, Valdez said.
She spent much of her free time at home with her family — dancing, laughing — and would visit Dallas some weekends to see Ledesma. Her aunts remember her as the “joy of the house,” an intelligent girl with a bright future.
“Everyone wanted to be around her,” Valdez said. “She was a good girl.”
Janelle Bello, left, stands with Joe Davila, right, before his high school’s ROTC military ball.
Courtesy of Erica Davila
Joe Michael Davila III, 19, had been friends with Bello since kindergarten. His aunt, Erica Davila, said she was part of their family.
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“We took her on so many trips,” he said, reminiscing about drives to Corpus Christi, stays at the Omni Hotel and adventures at Fort Worth’s Dream Park. “She was a good friend, one of my best friends.”
“When they were younger, Janelle would bring out the goofy side of Joe,” Erica Davila said. “He wasn’t afraid to be himself. Everybody just wants to know what happened [to her].”
A young Janelle Bello, right, enjoys a snow cone with Joe Davila, left. The two have been friends since kindergarten.
Courtesy of Erica Davila
Conoly, who had employed Bello as a babysitter for over a year, expressed similar sentiments. Though she hadn’t known her as long, Conoly said, the impact Bello had on her life and her children was irreplaceable.
The past couple months she had been seeing Bello frequently, Conoly said, and getting to know her better as a person made it even harder to lose her.
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“She was a very nurturing person,” Conoly said, recalling how good Bello was with her 1-year-old son. “I think she would’ve been a really good mom… She was bold and brave, and she was very loving to my kids.”
“She was a ray of sunshine,” she said, as her voice trembled and she teared up.
Loss of 18-year-old leaves ‘immeasurable void’
Three things Ledesma will always be remembered for, according to his obituary: A kind heart, gentle spirit, and the joy he brought to those who knew and loved him.
His family didn’t respond to interview requests from The News. According to his obituary, Ledesma leaves behind four siblings along with his mother, father and grandparents.
“Ulises’s life was a precious gift, and while his passing leaves an immeasurable void, his love and the moments shared with him will continue to inspire those who knew him,” his obituary said.
Bello’s family recalled meeting Ledesma only a few times. He seemed like a nice boy, Conoly said.
Janelle Bello, left, and Ulises Ledesma, right, create a heart with their fingers for a photo booth picture.
Courtesy of Angelica “Angie” Gonzalez
Ledesma’s visitation and rosary services were held July 15 at Pilar Funeral Home in Garland, and his mass and burial were held the day after in Dallas at Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos and Laurel Land Memorial Park.
A GoFundMe started by his father raised nearly $1,500 for his funeral expenses.
Bello’s visitation, cremation and a mariachi tribute were held the evening of July 17 at the Amalla Funeral Home in Fort Worth. The family also created a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses, and as of Thursday, over $4,000 had been raised.
Valdez said the family would continue to keep Bello’s memory alive by telling people how wonderful she was.