Friends and family mourn woman found dead

Hundreds of friends and family members gathered last night to say goodbye to Jessica Pascual, a young woman whose body was found this week in a parking lot in Richmond's Museum District.

"I just don't know what to say," Pascual's mother, Karen Pascual, said by phone shortly before last night's viewing at Chesterfield Chapel of Bennett Funeral Home in Chesterfield County. "She was beautiful and had the best smile and cared about other people."

Pascual said she did not know what happened to her 20-year-old daughter, a 2006 graduate of Midlothian High School who was taking classes at John Tyler Community College.

Police continued their investigation and were waiting for the state medical examiner's office to assign a cause of death.

"We're treating this like every other death investigation," said Maj. John Venuti of the Richmond Police Department. "Slow, methodical, crossing every 't,' dotting every 'i' -- doing everything possible so we can get the answers the family wants."

Police have been tight-lipped about the facts of the case, but an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Richmond Circuit Court provides the following details:

Pascual was found face-down in a parking lot outside an apartment building at Kensington Avenue and North Nansemond Street shortly after 6 Wednesday morning.

Her clothes were disheveled, and tire tracks were "covering her body," the affidavit says. Blood smears were found on a door to the apartment building.

Marshall H. Pitts, a resident of the building, told police that Pascual had been staying with him there, according to the affidavit. Pitts also said Pascual had come home drunk between 11 p.m. and midnight, and that he walked her to a friend's house. He said he never saw her again.

In the apartment, police discovered marijuana and two smoking devices, according to the affidavit. Venuti declined to say whether any charges were placed in connection with the marijuana. Pitts could not be reached for comment.

Pascual, referred to as "Little Pink Rose" in her obituary, had been working at Ellwood Thompson's Local Market on North Thompson Street.

She worked about four years at Hot Tamale Café in Chesterfield before leaving in December. The customers adored her, said general manager Judy Himmelman.

"I'm devastated," Himmelman said. "She was wonderful. I just think of her as my daughter."

She was a free spirit, warm and caring, and she enjoyed nature, dancing and hula-hooping, her obituary said.

"She was always hula-hooping out here on the driveway," said Stuart Garnett, a longtime resident of the apartment building on Kensington. "That's why everybody called her 'Hula-Hoop Girl.'"

Pascual was remembered on her Facebook page as beautiful, inspiring and bubbly.

"I miss you so much Jes," one posting says. "Keep dancing baby."

A memorial service will be held today at 1 p.m. at Woodlake United Methodist Church, 6601 Woodlake Village Parkway.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .