HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — If you see a crowd of people wearing purple at Holland’s 58th District Court, they are representing a show of strength in memory of the late Holland resident, Linda Rodriguez, 61. She was murdered on April 16, 2019. Police have charged her ex boyfriend.
Holland resident and longtime friend Irene Ramos, 59, is helping organize the demonstration, in part in Rodriguez’s memory as well as in support of her family members.
Ramos said family and friends will show up at the court house between 8 and 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, wearing Linda’s favorite color, purple, as a show of strength and resilience.
“We’re just bringing awareness to domestic violence — it’s not acceptable in the Holland area. It’s never acceptable,” Ramos said.
The man accused of the murder, Salvador Gonzalez Ruiz III, is due in Holland’s 58th District Court Thursday morning for a preliminary hearing on the murder charge. Police believe he broke into her 24th Street home in Holland, stabbing her after a series of harassment incidents.
Ramos said her friend Linda Rodriguez was very loved and is “greatly, greatly missed.”
She went on to ask people to get educated about domestic violence and “if you see something, say something.”
Domestic violence, she said, happens at all economic levels, and to people of all races. Hear her full interview.
