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After a murder-suicide in Lake Highlands, a sister mourns what could’ve been

Dassa Alvarez, 24, was fatally shot Feb. 5. in the 11100 block of Walnut Hill Lane.

This story is part of The Dallas Morning News’ homicide project focused on sharing the stories of all people killed in Dallas in 2024.

On the night of Feb. 5, Dassa Alvarez followed the routine. She took a break from her shift at Kroger to pick up her nephew from his babysitter and her sister, Alexisa, from work before dropping them off at the Mesquite home they shared.

Why This Story Matters
The Dallas Morning News is telling the stories of people killed in homicides in 2024 to show the toll of violent crime in Dallas. Reporting throughout the year will probe what officials are doing to address a crime that claimed at least 246 lives last year.

“Hey, I have two more hours on the clock,” Dassa, 24, said as she pulled away. “I’ll see you when I get off.”

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Alexisa, 22, waited up all night. When she still hadn’t heard from Dassa by morning, she called her cell, worried. An unfamiliar voice answered.

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Alexisa hung up, sure she had clicked the wrong contact, and called again.

“Why are you answering my sister’s phone?” she asked. “Where is my sister?”

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“I can’t tell you that information over the phone,” a woman who identified herself as a detective said. “Can you give me your address so we can talk?”

Alexisa Alvarez, the younger sister of Dassa Alvarez, who was shot and killed by her...
Alexisa Alvarez, the younger sister of Dassa Alvarez, who was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend on Feb. 5, 2024, poses for a photo with a sign made in honor of her sister at her home on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Mesquite.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Alexisa would soon learn that when Dassa returned to the store to finish her shift, her 23-year-old ex-boyfriend was waiting inside, insisting they talk. The couple had been together for five years before breaking up in January. It was his first serious relationship, Alexisa said. He didn’t take the ending well.

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A coworker asked Dassa if he was giving her trouble, and offered to find someone to walk her to her car. The ex-boyfriend left shortly after, texting Dassa.

“Can you give me a ride home?” he wrote. “This is the last thing I’ll ask of you.”

Dassa agreed, “because that’s just who she was,” Alexisa said. In the 11100 block of Walnut Hill Lane in Lake Highlands, he shot Dassa in the head before turning the gun on himself. He died at a hospital two days later.

Alexisa once thought the breakup would be the first step of a new beginning, a chance for her and Dassa to make up for the bond they missed out on in childhood. The sisters grew up in different households after their parents separated.

When Dassa asked if she could move in and start over, Alexisa didn’t think twice.

“She was ready to come home,” Alexisa said. “She’d had enough.”

Dassa, she said, was protective, optimistic and loyal. She was close to enrolling in a phlebotomy program, and had just been promoted at Kroger. More than anything, Dassa was there. If someone she cared about was hurt or sad, Alexisa said, Dassa was the first to intervene.

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“Leave it in yesterday,” Dassa would say. “All you can do is move forward.”

“She made everything possible,” Alexisa said.

Alexisa Alvarez, the younger sister of Dassa Alvarez who was shot and killed by her...
Alexisa Alvarez, the younger sister of Dassa Alvarez who was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend on Feb. 5, 2024, held a box containing a lock of Dassa’s hair and other personal belongings at her home on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Mesquite.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

To keep her close, Alexisa stores in a wooden case pieces of what Dassa had on her when she died, some of it still preserved in plastic evidence bags: her fake eyelashes, a light pink beaded bracelet, a strand of her curly, brown hair.

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“Loving daughter and sister,” the case’s plaque reads. “Forever loved. Forever missed.”

The National Domestic Violence Hotline offers free, confidential support 24/7. Call 1-800-799-7233, text “START” to 88788 or visit www.thehotline.org.

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