Roommate who tried to intervene in fatal attack on woman speaks out

Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

Melody Hernandez said she is devastated and emotionally distraught after witnessing a horrific and deadly knife attack on her roommate last Saturday.

“It’s really awful. I can’t sleep during the night. It keeps playing in my mind what I saw,” she said, breaking down in tears.

Hernandez said that in the first week of September, her cousin reached out to her and asked if she had a spare room for a friend named Gregoria Alilio. Alilio and the cousin worked together at Multimatic Manufacturing, an auto parts company in Markham.

Hernandez said she met with Alilio and the two discussed why she was looking for a new place to live.

“When she came here, we had a chit chat, maybe three or four hours. We are talking and then she told me that I had a boyfriend, that’s why I’m looking for a place that I can be safe. I’m looking for a place that he cannot follow me,” she said.

Story continues below advertisement

Hernandez said she asked if they would be safe recalling that Alilio told her “the police gave a restraining order to him already, so he cannot come close to me.”

Hernandez said Alilio acknowledged that she was concerned.

“She told me that ‘I’m scared that he’s going to kill me,” she said.

Alilio moved into the North York apartment on Oct. 17.

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.

On Saturday around 4 p.m., Hernandez said she got a text message from the roommate who had been out all day.

Hernandez said Alilio said she had nowhere to park because a car was in her spot in the building’s parking lot.

When she tried to call her, there was no answer, so she went onto the balcony of her second-floor unit overlooking the parking lot and saw Alilio sitting in the driver’s seat of her white SUV waving her down.

Story continues below advertisement

Hernandez said she then noticed a man standing next to the driver’s door of Hernandez’s vehicle, which was ajar.

She said she immediately thought of the restraining order.

“I was thinking right away that is the man because there’s no man in her life, only the ex-boyfriend,” she said.

Hernandez said she ran to the parking lot where she saw the man had his hands around Alilio’s neck.

“He’s choking her. Right away, I go to help her so I go to the side of the car. What I am going to do is grab him, but what I saw was him choking her and a knife pointing on the neck,” she said.

Seconds later, she said the man released Alilio’s neck and stabbed her three times in the stomach.

“I step back. I become so scared and then I want to call 911,” said Alilio.

She said she watched as the man continued to stab Alilio who was holding her arms up over her head, in an effort to defend herself.

Hernandez said Alilio then moved to the passenger seat before she watched the man tried to slit his own throat. She said he then began stabbing himself in his stomach.

Story continues below advertisement

The victim’s roommate says she began yelling for help but no one was around. She also said she hung up on 911 four times because at first she couldn’t get through to a live operator and was put on hold. Phone records reveal on the fifth try, two minutes after the first call, Alilio connected to an operator who told her first responders were on the way.

When police arrived, the man were pronounced dead at the scene. Alilio was taken to hospital where she later died in what police are investigating as a case of intimate partner violence.

Police did not release the suspect’s name but multiples sources confirm to Global News his name is Reydel Del Rosario.

On Sept. 1, Del Rosario was charged with assault, assault with a weapon, uttering death threats and theft not exceeding $5,000 in relation to an incident on Aug. 31. He was also charged with assault in relation to an incident earlier this year. The alleged victim was Alilio.

Del Rosario was released on his own recognizance that day with a number of conditions including he not be within 500 metres of Alilio, nor have any contact with her.

Alilio’s roommate says she wished she could have stopped the attack and is angry.

“She told me he was really obsessed with her. What kind of person is going to kill a person that you love? If you love someone, let them go.” said Hernandez.

Story continues below advertisement

“Why you need to kill her and then kill yourself, I’m so mad at him.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.

Are you or someone you know experiencing abuse? Visit the Department of Justice’s Victim Services Directory for a list of support services in your area.

Women, trans and non-binary people can find an additional list of resources online.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.