Friends, students honor 'Miss Mayra,' elementary school teacher slain in North Hollywood

Households gathered at Wilshire Park Elementary College on Friday night to mourn the jarring lack of third-grade trainer Mayra Jimenez, who prosecutors allege was killed by her firefighter husband at their North Hollywood residence.

Many tears had been shed as youngsters, dad and mom and mates remembered “Miss Mayra” — the devoted 46-year-old educator whose violent demise has devastated the Koreatown faculty neighborhood.

Mayra’s husband, Andrew Jimenez, 45, was arrested Wednesday and charged with homicide Friday, in accordance with the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace. If convicted as charged, he faces 26 years to life in jail.

The gang on the vigil was so giant it overflowed into the road dealing with the varsity, the place a pile of flowers and prayer candles had been laid all the way down to create a memorial for the slain trainer.

Sarah McNeill, a detailed buddy of Mayra’s, stated she was deeply beloved by the Wilshire Park neighborhood and introduced heat into each room she entered.

“She was at all times smiling, and her generosity, advocacy, and love for her college students and colleagues confirmed up in all the things she did,” McNeill stated. “She’s the trainer that stayed at recess to present college students additional help, known as her instructing companion to e-book concepts for lesson plans over the weekend and went store to buy to seek out simply the suitable provides to make her classroom thrilling and fascinating.”

Karen Chacon stated that Mayra reworked her household’s life by giving her baby the particular consideration wanted to thrive within the classroom.

“Miss Mayra was not only a trainer,” Chacon stated. “She was somebody who actually noticed youngsters for who they had been and believed in who they may turn into. When our baby wanted additional care and help, Miss Mayra didn’t step again, she stepped ahead.”

Colleagues remembered Mayra as a devoted educator and energetic member of the academics union who spoke as much as help the wants of her college students and fellow employees members.

Bryant Ruiz retains his arm round his 9-year-old son Ian, who was a pupil of slain trainer Mayra Jimenez.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)

“Mayra was an activist, an advocate, a pacesetter, a buddy, and most of all a beloved trainer,” stated Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Academics Los Angeles. “Her love for her college students was paramount, and she or he labored laborious, stayed late, and at all times led by instance.”

Mayra Jimenez’s physique was discovered early Wednesday morning when Los Angeles law enforcement officials carried out a wellness examine at her North Hollywood residence on the behest of her husband.

Inside, officers discovered her bludgeoned to demise and an ensuing investigation linked Andrew to the killing, officers stated. Authorities allege he used an ax to kill her.

An lawyer retained by Andrew’s household advised ABC7 that moments earlier than the killing, Andrew learn a diary entry by which his spouse described partaking in infidelity.

Andrew Jimenez is a longtime firefighter and paramedic who had been with the Glendale Hearth Division since 2008. He has since been positioned on administrative go away, in accordance with the town.

“The home violence demise of Mayra Jimenez is a devastating reminder of the persistent scourge of intimate companion violence in our communities,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman stated in a press release. “Nobody, together with these sworn to guard others, is above the regulation, and we’ll maintain the defendant accountable for this horrific crime and produce justice to Ms. Jimenez and her family members.”