Co-workers Remember Bartender Stabbed To Death With Mother

The employees at 6 Strings Bar thought of Jovana Flores as more than just a co-worker.

“We thought of her as a little sister,” said Alejandro Gil, owner and manager of 6 Strings Bar in East El Paso, where Jovana worked. “You’d see that smile on her face and you would forget about bad stuff. She would tell you everything was going to be all right and sure enough, it would be.”

Jovana, 20, and her 58-year-old mother, Amalia Flores, were stabbed to death inside their home on Friday. There have been no arrests, but El Paso Police said they are investigating a “person of interest.”

One of the victim’s co-workers questioned how something like this could have happened.

“I just can’t imagine walking in and not seeing that smile on her face,” Gil said. “Anyway to go is not a right way, but something gruesome like that is just a tragedy. A senseless crime that shouldn’t happen.”

Jovana, a Montwood High School graduate, began working at the bar when it opened last August.

Gil and his employees are planning a benefit dinner in her honor.