At age 10, Angelica Bravo became her “brother’s keeper.” She didn’t know how to change a diaper or rock a baby to sleep, but she quickly stepped up to serve as a mother figure to her infant half-brother, Gil, when he did not have one himself.
Gil Bravo and other loved ones said that Angelica Bravo — who had three children of her own when she was found dead in a North Sacramento home on July 8 — always put others before herself, whether as a sister, mother, daughter, friend or instructor.
“Even when things were hard for her, she always found a way, especially for me, to make us happy. She took care of her kids, but she took care of everyone,” Gil Bravo said. “She was the person that you would always want to be around, even when you’re not in the mood. She would brighten up the rooms when chaos was going on.”
His 28-year-old sister had a tattoo on her neck that spelled out, “My Brothers’ Keeper,” a tribute to her close relationship with Gil and their younger brother, Isaac.
The cause of Angelica Bravo’s death at a home she once shared with her ex on Didcot Circle remains undetermined, as the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office awaits a toxicology report among other findings. Coroner Rosa Vega said the “results could take months.”
But a more immediate concern, say her loved ones and authorities, are the whereabouts of her two youngest children — Athena Lee, 4, her brother Mateo Lee, 2 — who were last seen near the day Angelica Bravo was found unresponsive and are now presumed to be with their father, Camron Lee, better known as “Major.” Family members said that Bravo had been in an abusive relationship with Lee for years, where she experienced domestic violence.
Police began looking for Lee and the children in the hours after Bravo’s death when they failed to reach the father through various means. Police have not called Lee a suspect or a “person of interest” in Bravo’s death.
On Tuesday, police said they remain hopeful authorities will find the children after their father’s vehicle was seen crossing the U.S.-Mexico border last week. Sacramento police spokesman Officer Anthony Gamble said the agency was working “around the clock, working with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to follow up on leads and trying to locate these kids,” whom they believe may have been dropped off by Camron Lee somewhere in Southern California.
Angelica’s death has devastated her family members, who are seeking answers regarding her death and the children’s location.
‘She was just this little light following me’
Angelica was born in 1996, two years after the birth of her older half-sister, Cecelia Spencer, and 18 years before the birth of her younger half-sister, Lumina Bodea. Angelica’s grandfather Gilbert Bravo said that as a child, she was a “firecracker.”
Relatives described Bravo as a child who loved her family fiercely but tenderly, often insisting she’d take care to help them with small tasks and keep an eye on them. She had also always been an animal lover with a strong sense of humor and kindness, who loved to watch movies and cheer on the sidelines at every one of Gil’s soccer games.
Giana Escobar, her cousin, had fond memories of the few years they lived together with Bravo’s father in their youth. Although Escobar is 6 years older, she said Bravo would be the one constantly reminding her to make good decisions. When Escobar asked to go on a run with her boyfriend in high school, her uncle was apprehensive; 12-year-old Bravo quickly offered to chaperone them herself.
“She was just this little light following me,” Escobar said. “She was always the little cousin that was like, ‘You need to do your homework, you need to be home’ — always that little voice in my ear.”
Being a parental figure to Gil and Isaac helped prepare Bravo for motherhood when she had her first child, Nathalia, when she was 16. Bravo faced adversity, Spencer said, but prioritized her baby in the face of the challenges associated with being a young single mother.
“She fought so hard to bring my niece Nathalia to be the 12-year-old she is now,” Spencer said. “It did not matter what my sister was going through. Her kids always came first.”
When she finished high school, Bravo set out to become one of the first students at the Mixed Institute of Cosmetology & Barber in Sacramento to support herself and her daughter. Hair was always her passion, according to her mother, Dawn Bodea. As a child, Bravo insisted on doing and redoing her hairstyles until they were perfect; when she and Spencer were teenagers, she was fascinated by Spencer’s dyed hair, leading her to take a special interest in hair coloring courses.
‘Devastating hit to everyone here’
Upon graduation from the Mixed Institute, Bravo led a successful career in hair, working at high-end salons, styling models for fashion shows and even opening up a Sola Salon with Escobar during the pandemic. Three months before her death, Bravo returned to the Mixed Institute as an instructor.
Keinya Beasley, the founder and co-owner of the Mixed Institute, remembered that during Bravo’s interview for the job, she said she wanted to return to the school because it felt like home.
Beasley added that Bravo was a skilled instructor who pushed students to be the best versions of themselves. Bravo would often write inspirational quotes on the school’s whiteboards or on slips of paper, which she would share with the room during gatherings.
“She wanted to help them the way she felt helped here,” Beasley said. “When we heard that she wasn’t with us anymore, it was a devastating hit to everyone here. She was a very sweet and caring person, and when she saw something needed to be done, she dove in and did it.”
Bravo had her younger children, Athena and Mateo, once she got settled into her career. Loved ones said she contended with physically taxing pregnancies and an abusive on-and-off relationship with the children’s father, Lee, but said she refused to let those difficulties stop her from ensuring her children felt happy, safe and loved.
Bravo’s mother said that on some days, she would see Angelica withdrawing from the extended family to hide bruises on her arms and face; on others, she would text and call relatives several times to ensure they were coming to the birthday parties she planned for the children, where she “pulled out all the stops,” Bodea said.
A decision to leave and a change in behavior
Around the time she went to work as an instructor at the Mixed Institute, Bravo’s life was taking a new shape.
Family members said that it seemed she had finally left the relationship with Lee for good, and that she and the children moved into a home of their own in south Sacramento near where Escobar lived. She was also living closer to her mother and younger sister, Lumina. Bodea remembered conversations in which her daughter expressed difficulty in leaving the relationship, feeling as if she were “tearing the family apart.”
“So when she got the apartment, I was just overjoyed,” Bodea said. “I had been praying and praying and praying that she would get out of that situation for so long, and when she finally got out, it was like, ‘Thank God, this is the start of her new life.’”
Although these dramatic changes initially seemed to improve Bravo’s sense of well-being, she seemed withdrawn and fearful in the weeks before her death, family said. Authorities found Bravo’s body on Didcot Circle, in a home she had shared with Lee before she and the children moved to a new apartment. Bodea added that in the days before her death, Bravo said she had been beaten by Lee, who prevented her from leaving the home and took away her phone and keys.
Bodea urged people to recognize indicators that their loved ones may be stuck in a cycle of domestic abuse.
“The warning signs come when they’re less communicative than normal, they withdraw into themselves and don’t really want to be around you because they don’t want you to see the bruises,” Bodea said. “When the abuser is profusely apologizing and love bombing after hurting them, making them feel like they’re never going to do that again and buying them things. But then the cycle starts all over again.”
Relatives also said that Bravo would have wanted to see her children returned to Sacramento safely. They see finding the children as the priority now in addition to finding out how Bravo died.
“I’m so devastated right now, but she would want me to look for my niece and nephew,” 10-year-old Lumina said. “The only thing that can really make me happy right now is just the hope they can go home and be happy and be with Nathalia.”
For the past week, Gil Bravo’s bedroom has been decorated with photographs of his older sister. He said he sees Angelica every time he wakes up and turns his head; he can still hear her voice and her sideline cheers.
“Even now, she’s still gonna be there to protect us,” he added.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides confidential assistance to anyone affected by domestic violence through a live chat and a free 24-hour hotline: 800-799-7233.
