MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. – Esa Leal says her younger sister Adrianna was inseparable from Lilea “Lilly” Stolworthy.
“They were always making TikToks and Snapchats,” she said. “Summertime they were always in the water swimming, doing something, going for walks. They literally did everything together.”
It was Leal’s idea to host a candlelight vigil to remember the life of the 11-year-old Stolworthy, who was shot and killed by her brother in an attempted murder-suicide, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 100 people gathered at Wilcox Park in the freezing cold, sharing stories about Lilly. In the center of the crowd was a table with photos of her, many screenshots from social media apps like Snapchat, attached to poster boards. Plenty of Lilly’s friends, many of whom are as young as she was, wrote notes on the posters.
“If you ever need anything she would always text you or call you,” Brelynn Price said, fighting back tears. “On Friday she texted me before I had my first game, she texted me that she was gonna be able to come to one of them… and she never will or never will be able to.”
The attendance was larger than anticipated, with the event organizers running out of candles to hand out.
“She was loved,” Natasha Hargrave, Leal’s mother, said. “I was so thankful to see everybody came just to see how many people loved Lilly.”
