DALLAS — Cherish Gibson’s mother says her daughter was a special gift.
”I almost lost her," said Stacey Adams Hernandez. "She was supposed to be the last child so I called her Cherish,”
One of four sisters, Gibson was the life of the party.
”She was fun to be around,” said Hernandez.
Her family says Gibson was only passing through Dallas this summer on her way back home to California.
But she didn’t make it, Her family knew something was wrong when they hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days.
Her body was found near the Trinity River in South Dallas.
”I mean, it feels like a nightmare," Hernandez said. "I still can’t believe she’s gone. I mean, I know she’s gone but I can’t believe she is gone. It’s the worst feeling.”
She and two other women were found stabbed to death, police believe by the same man.
”I just want the world to know what a beautiful person she was, and she didn’t deserve this and neither did the other women," Hernandez said.
Her mother says she’s angry and frustrated that the suspect had a long criminal history and was in the country illegally.
”He had been arrested multiple times and let out and he crossed the border a few times and let out again," said Hernandez. "All of this could have been prevented had he been locked up."
Gibson’s mother now wears a necklace with her daughter’s ashes to keep her close.
”I have cherish right here with me every day, always," she said.
Recently. her family gathered for a celebration of her life.
”It sucks because I really just lost my best friend,” said Cherish Gibson's sister, Larissa Gibson.
Dallas police say all three victims were linked to prostitution. Her mother wants people to know her daughter was much more than that.
”I just wanted the world to know what a beautiful person she was... She didn’t deserve this and neither did the other women,” Hernandez said.