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Suspects in brutal Livermore stabbing due in court Wednesday

DUBLIN (KRON)– Two people accused of killing a 19-year-old woman in Livermore are due in court Wednesday morning.

Investigators says 19-year-old Daniel Gross and 25-year-old Melissa Leonardo stabbed Lizette Cuesta multiple times and dumped her on a rural road.


A motorist, Richard Loadholt says he prayed with her and kept her awake and talking until help arrived.

Loadholt says Cuesta was fighting for her life when he and a friend found her Monday soaked in blood and dragging herself on the side of a road in Livermore.

First responders requested an emergency helicopter and the woman was air-lifted to Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, where she was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Gross and Leonardo, were arrested in Modesto after Cuesta made a “very compelling dying declaration” about who stabbed her,  according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly.

Officials believe Cuesta was killed with malice aforethought, dumped from a vehicle and left for dead. She crawled on her stomach 100 yards or more before being found.

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