‘Best sister ever’: Woman who died in suspected homicide remembered — PHOTOS

A 28-year-old woman who died tragically last week was remembered Wednesday as a vibrant, popular businesswoman who was working toward having her own salon using her sought-after talent with women’s eyelashes.

About 75 people, mostly young adults, some holding flower bouquets, attended an outdoor memorial ceremony to celebrate the life of Alondra Rivera in the early evening summer heat at Winterwood Park in eastern Las Vegas. The ceremony was also held to raise funds for her family.

“She was my second mom,” said her sister, Angelica Rivera, 21. “Basically she was the best sister ever. She was known in the community to have the biggest heart. She was a teacher, she was businesswoman. She lit up the room.”

“She was vibrant, she was independent, she was a business owner, entrepreneur,” said her brother Alex, 20. “She was very much herself, and she touched a lot of people in their souls. She was one of a kind.”

On Monday, the Clark County coroner’s office identified Alondra Rivera as the person found fatally injured in a road by the Metropolitan Police Department at about 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of East Yuma Avenue and South Frank Street.

From a preliminary probe, Las Vegas police said the woman had been arguing with another person while she was on the hood of a sports utility vehicle when the vehicle suddenly stopped and she fell off, hitting her head in the road, police said.

The driver then fled the scene, and no arrest was made, police said.

Alex Rivera, who said the confrontation stemmed from a domestic dispute, said that as of Wednesday police told him no one had been arrested and authorities were still investigating.

At the memorial, after setting up a couple of framed canopies, Alondra Riviera’s siblings and friends brought in soft drinks, beer, wine, snacks and tacos for sale. People lined up to sign a guest book on a table beside a color photo of the woman, a trail of white balloons and a large funeral wreath of white roses.

Julie Jimenez, 25, Alondra Rivera’s close friend, her voice cracking, addressed the crowd in Spanish and English.

“You were loved,” Jimenez said. “You were loved unconditionally. You are an angel. You have always been an angel. You’ll always be in our hearts. We will always remember you.”

Jimenez invited the audience to stay until after sundown for a candle lighting in honor of her friend.

Angelica Rivera said her sister rented an east Las Vegas salon as a lash tech, creating and affixing women’s eyelashes and also teaching “other girls in the community to do lashes as well.”

The business was known as Pop In Lashes, which Alondra Rivera started four years ago, Angelica Rivera said.

Alondra Rivera, originally from Mexico, grew up with her family in east Las Vegas “and was known all over Las Vegas,” Angelica Rivera said. “She had her dreams of her own salon, her own lash brands.”

“Alondra was so sweet,” said Fabulous Smith, 28, a client and friend. “She was one of them girls that were so pretty. When you met her you thought she’d be stuck up or something like that. But she was completely opposite. She was very inviting and warming and welcoming.”

“She could hold a conversation,” Smith said. “She was giggly, she was persistent. And she’s someone I’m going to show up for. She was so beautiful.”

“But it’s crazy to even talk about her in the past tense,” Smith added.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.