Francesca Williams Funeral Expenses and Support

** From Marianna Bacilla, mother of Francesca **

Friends,

I have terrible news to share. On Saturday night, May 20th, my daughter Francesca Williams was killed in a home invasion robbery at her farm in Ecuador. My three granddaughters are physically unharmed, but the trauma is immeasurable. My son-in-law, Michael, was badly battered. Francesca‘s birth father, John, whom she’d been caring for, was stabbed multiple times. Both Michael and John are out of the hospital and are going to be okay, physically. They all endured horrendous trauma. Their Ecuadorian community is fully embracing them - taking care of them until they all fly home to the U.S. at the end of May. We are working with the U.S. consulate in Ecuador to help return Francesca’s body to the United States.

Francesca was the light of our life. She was a devoted wife and mother of three beautiful daughters. She graduated from Poway High School and UCSD with a BA in Linguistics. She was fluent in French, Spanish and Lithuanian. She was a translator and an avid writer and illustrator who had published her first book, “The King’s Magic”. In the small town of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, Francesca’s family lived on a small farm they were building themselves, raising chickens, goats, horses, pigs, ducks and guinea fowl, working toward a goal of sustainable farming. - It was their humble Shangri-La.

Her family will be returning to their home in Colorado. Francesca will be buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Kremmling, CO. She will be buried next to my sister Stephanie, Francesca‘s biological mother who died in 2021, shortly after Mark, my late husband.

Thank you for understanding the need to share my heart and my pain with you. We appreciate your support.

** All donations will be received by Marianna and provided to her family in Colorado **