Good Samaritan Prayed for Her Killers before Dying
"With her dying breath, she was praying for her murderers. She wasn't praying for her children; she wasn't praying to have her life saved. She was praying for her murderer's souls."
(Arizona)—Mabel Lopez was a remarkable woman. No stranger to adversity, the mother of eight children was a good citizen who was known throughout south Phoenix as someone who wanted to make her city a better place to live by helping anyone who needed help.
"Mother would take anybody in," said her daughter, Cathy Paddack. "She would often take strays in, both animals and people, who needed a hand. She was always trying to help people help themselves, giving them work, letting them earn a living...."
But, tragically, in August 2000, the 69-year-old Mabel took in two struggling, jobless men who—after she came home and told the drunk men that they would have to leave—turned on her and killed her.
Paddack says her mother sent her messages in death, such as her voice on the answering machine the day after she died, telling of God's love and saying goodbye. There was also reportedly a Bible by the front door, opened to Psalm 59, which starts out "Deliver me from mine enemies" and goes on to say, "slay them not."
Over time, details of what happened that night came out during the trial and last week the men were finally sentenced. The most amazing part of the testimony during the trial came when one of the killers was asked: '"What was the lady saying, was she screaming for help?"
"No," replied her murderer. "She said, 'May God have mercy on your souls.'"
Notes reporter Laurie Roberts, "With her dying breath, she [Mabel Lopez] was praying for her murderers. She wasn't praying for her children; she wasn't praying to have her life saved. She was praying for her murderer's souls."
