ROWLETT -- Heather Nabor-Grace is fiercely protective of the little girl she now considers part of her family.
Five-year-old Maria's mother, Laura Grillo, was gunned down in her Rowlett home in November 2015. Grillo was Nabor-Grace's best friend.
With Maria's father, John Makris, now accused of hiring two hitmen, she fears what will happen to little Maria now.
“He still has guardianship of her,” Nabor-Grace told WFAA. “He can still say where she goes. I don't think that's right. I don't' think that's justice.”
Makris, 38, is in the Dallas County Jail, accused of capital murder. Police allege he paid two men, Jesus Trevino and James Villeda, both 30, to kill his fiancée. Police say Trevino was the shooter and Villeda drove the getaway car.
“She misses her mom,” Nabor-Grace said of Maria. “She's just lost everything. She's lost her mother, and now this thing with her dad.”
Grillo, a mother of three and former Rowlett police volunteer, was killed just eight days before she and Makris were to be married. They had met through an online gaming service about six or seven years ago.
“She seemed pretty excited,” her friend said. “You know, she was nervous, but at the same time, she was excited.”
Nabor-Grace says she sensed the tension between Makris and Grillo, but couldn't pinpoint the reason why.
“He had some jealousy issues,” she said.
Grillo was gunned down in the kitchen of the home she shared with Makris on Nov. 13, 2015. Her brother found her body.
Nabor-Grace’s suspicions about Makris came within hours of her friend's death.
“There were a lot of things that were off that I noticed,” she said. “It just didn't seem like how someone would normally be grieving. I tried to think, 'Maybe it's a macho thing.'”
On the day of Grillo’s funeral, Makris asked Nabor-Grace to keep Maria. She's been with her family ever since. Grillo’s other two children are with their fathers.
Earlier this year, News 8 talked to Markis after Trevino was named as a person of interest in Grillo’s death. Trevino was a friend of Makris and had worked for his remodeling business.
In the months after Grillo’s death, Trevino disappeared, prompting police to publicly name him. Trevino, a convicted sex offender, was taken into custody in Florida several months ago.
“What runs in my mind all the time is, why?" Makris told News 8 after his friend was arrested. "Now, a name comes up that I know, and the why is even bigger."
On Friday, Maria was told of the awful thing her father is accused of doing to her mother.
“She seemed really hurt,” Nabor-Grace said. “She's a fresh five -- she just turned five. And she's really resilient, but there’s going to have to be some serious counseling.”
