Mother of 19 yr old shooting victim speaks out

Debbie Reyes was getting ready to go to bed last Wednesday night when her phone rang. She assumed it was a family member calling to wish her a happy birthday.

“They said it was my daughter,” she said, holding back tears.

A family member had called to tell Debbie her 19-year-old daughter, Jeanette, was in the hospital after being shot in the head.

“I get there and I see her car there and they have it all taped up,” she said of arriving at the hospital parking lot. “They tried and tried to revive her but there was no activity from the brain.”

The suspect in the shooting is Jeanette’s husband, 25-year-old James Fidler, who turned himself in to authorities Wednesday night after a six-hour manhunt.

“He drove her to the hospital, knocked on the doors of the ER and took off running and left her in the car,” Debbie said.

Jeanette remained on life support, her brain unresponsive but her heart beating, until Monday.

Debbie says she was by her daughter’s side every day, holding her hand and praying for a miracle that never arrived.

“It’s the worst thing I had to see. That was my baby girl. That was my life,” she said. “I can’t believe this happened, she was taken from me and taken from her babies.”

Jeanette was a mother to four young children, who are now being held in foster care.

As her family grieves, they try to hold on to the hope that her life now serves a greater purpose.

“Somebody needed her organs, so she saved a life,” Debbie said. “And that’s the only thing that gives me comfort because I know through that life my baby lives on.”

Fidler has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, domestic abuse, and four counts of child cruelty. The District Attorney’s Office amended the original complaint of attempted murder to murder, since Jeanette died from her injuries.

A Go-Fund-Me account was created to help pay for Jeanette’s funeral expenses. (http://www.gofundme.com/forjeanette)