WASHINGTON — A father is still mourning his daughter one year after she was found dead in a Virginia Beach hotel room. Fabio Andrade, Jr. wrote a letter to his daughter, Lanoix, on the anniversary of her death on Tuesday.
"Although you have been gone for a year, your toys still scatter the living room and your highchair sits next to me as I eat dinner alone in the kitchen. I keep our home as you left it because I continue to pray, I will wake up from this nightmare and you will come home one day," Fabio Andrade writes.
Andrade writes about not being able to sleep and struggles over the past year. He also wrote about getting justice for his young daughter.
"When Papi closed your casket, I promised to be strong and to fight for your justice. You were murdered because the system failed us once and I am determined to make sure the system does not fail us again. Please continue to give me strength," the father writes.
Lanoix was found dead in a Virginia Beach hotel room on August 2 last year. The girl's mother, Leandra Andrade, from Northeast, D.C., was charged with second-degree murder, child abuse and neglect in relation to the girl's death.
Search warrants show that the Virginia Beach Police received a call for a "possible suicidal person." The call was made by a friend from D.C. who got worried after receiving a text message from Leandra Andrade saying “they would look down on them from Heaven" and then seeing photos of Lanoix posted on Instagram by Leandra, talking about her daughter in the past tense.
The search warrant shows that Leandra Andrade sent her location to that same friend. When Virginia Beach Police officers arrived at the motel they found Leandra Andrade unconscious, and Lanoix was dead. Officers were able to revive Leandra Andrade using Narcan, and she was taken to the hospital.
Legal documents filed in D.C. Superior Court last spring state that Fabio Andrade had long suspected his wife of six years of struggling with a mental illness that impacted her ability to properly co-parent their child.
Fabio Andrade's attorney, Matthew Andelman, said the trial date is set for March 4, 2024.
"We are disappointed justice has not yet been served, but we are looking forward to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney prosecuting her murderer to the full extent of the law," Andelman said in a statement.