Daughters face eviction after their mom is killed

SAN ANTONIO — Three teens whose mother died after being shot right before Christmas now face eviction from the home they shared with her.

Michelle Hensel, 42, died Sunday, almost week after her boyfriend shot her in the head at her home, according to the Bexar County medical examiner.

Through Christmas and beyond, Hensel's family was at her side as she lay in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center. John Arthur Regalado, 43, also shot himself immediately after the 9 p.m. CT Dec. 22 attack and was pronounced dead at the scene.

"They are struggling," Delia Leija Hensel said of her granddaughters, ages 17 to 20. "When she passed away, the first thing Alexandria said is, 'Now we are going to be split apart.' "

On Christmas morning, one of Michelle Hensel's daughters gave birth to Gizelle Michelle Munoz. Michelle Hensel, struggling for her life at the time, would never meet her newborn granddaughter.

Now the family has learned that Michelle Hensel didn't pay the rent on the small, white clapboard house that the four called home. Michelle Hensel had just landed a full-time job before Regalado killed her.

"We are bound and determined to keep our family together. And that's what we are going to do," said Michelle Hensel's father, Fritz Hensel.

After Michelle Hensel's death, Fernando Martinez established a memorial site on GoFundMe.com for funeral expenses and to help the woman's children and grandchildren. As of Tuesday evening, about $9,000 had been donated.

Meanwhile, Fritz Hensel takes solace that at least one life was saved in his daughter's death.

"She donated her liver, two kidneys and her corneas," he said. "One of her kidneys went to her daughter's father-in-law, and it's my understanding that it started working as soon as it was put in.

"It makes me feel like Michelle is going to live on — and within the family," her father said.