'I Did It for My Dad'

Maxxy Lopez’s mother murdered her father in 2014 and forced her to keep it a secret. Nearly a decade later on Father’s Day, Maxxy finally came forward with the truth

- CHRISTINE PELISEK

On Sept. 14, 2014, Maxxy Lopez, then 12, watched in silent terror as her mother, Heidi Juarez, and half brother Melquin strangled to death her father, Miguel Lopez, 35, in the living room of the family’s home in Los Angeles. Her mother threatened to kill Maxxy next if she talked, and for nearly a decade Maxxy kept the killing she had witnessed secret, repeatedly refusing to tell relatives who asked what had happened to her missing father. But in 2022, after first revealing the truth in private to a friend, she called police in L.A. and went public with her story. The wheels of justice turned quickly: Heidi, 48, and Melquin, 30, her son from a previous relationship, were arrested the following year, and after Maxxy testified against them at trial, both were convicted of first-degree murder on June 26, 2025, and then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. “Maxxy showed a tremendous amount of courage,” says Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson, who prosecuted the case. “She was committed to seeing this through.” Now, in her own words, Maxxy, 23, opens up about finding justice for her father.

ENDURING BOND "I feel like the person I am now is because of him," says Maxxy of her father, Miguel Lopez (with her ca. 2002). Right: Maxxy in Los Angeles in December 2025.