Nearly a year after her 3-year-old daughter was allegedly stabbed to death by a coworker, the girl's mother says the pain has not subsided.
She says she's more sad, more angry and more disheartened than before.
She was the baby of the house, Maria Rodriguez said of her late daughter, Ruby Vasquez.
The 3-year-old was fatally stabbed in a downtown clothing factory last Halloween.
The coroner's report -- released for the first time to NBC4 -- shows the gravity of what happened to her. She suffered three separate stab wounds -- two of which alone could be considered fatal.
Six months later, Rodriguez says she tried to go back to work, but she couldn't go in.
I couldn't go in, she said. My manager had to come and get me.
Today, she works elsewhere. The suspect in the crime -- a co-worker of Ruby's mom -- Richard Utuy -- could face the death penalty. Rodriguez says Utuy is trying to claim insanity as a defense -- something she believes is untrue.
News
Top news of the day
Some ask for the death penalty, she said. But no one gains anything from that.
And while a year has passed -- Ruby would have been 4 years old now.
Rodriguez says she doesn't hate the man who allegedly killed her daughter, but she says she also can't forgive him.
I'm not someone who can forgive, she said. Only God knows.
