Lehigh woman & mother murdered

The story of Lori Stone and Whitney Mendez is a sad one. Even sadder for Mendez's two-year-old son, who can almost be considered an "orphan" now.

Tonight we did a story about Mendez's estranged husband, Juan Mendez. We found a restraining order recently submitted by Whitney and police reports documenting two other woman who accused Juan of abuse. It's tough for many to understand why a woman would stick around these abusive men, much less have a child with them.

Tonight's story proved difficult. On one side you have a tight lipped sheriff's office that will not confirm that Juan is a suspect or a person of interest. ("They're talking to him, he's cooperating")

The other side says, take a look at this domestic violence history, check out this restraining order in which he threatened to kill Whitney. I can present the facts... but what if the accusations are false? You can't ask Juan, he's gone. No where to be found.

In the end we go with the story because of the totality of Juan's arrests and convictions for domestic violence. So there is a high probability the restraining order could be truthful. And that's for you to decide, anyway. It would have been nice to confront Juan about it, though... hear his side.

If Juan is not innocent, which many believe is the case, this story should hit home for victims of domestic violence. Get out - get help - do it early on... before it becomes the monster that Whitney Mendez was trying to get away from.

Click on this link to see the story and restraining order Whitney filed.