CANONSBURG, Pa. — Coworkers of a mother of three who was shot and killed inside a home in Westmoreland County are in mourning.
Estela Vasquez, who went by Aby, was shot and killed inside of her Rostraver home on Wednesday.
Police arrested her live-in boyfriend, Robert Chaplin, who they said was highly intoxicated when they got to the home.
Vasquez was the mother of three children and worked on the chocolate assembly line for Sarris Candies and was a translator for other workers.
She moved to the Pittsburgh area from Guatemala and got a job a the Sarris Candies line in Canonsburg.
“It’s devastating, she was a wonderful person, loved working here. It was all over her social media page,” Sarris Candies Owner Bill Sarris said.
Sarris said Wednesday was the first day Vasquez did not show up for work and they feared something was wrong. He had the difficult task of telling the staff, which he said are like family to one another.
“She brought people in from Guatemala, all great workers and she was their translator. She was the one who did all the connecting with everybody. Everybody loved her,” Sarris said. “We told the employees at lunchtime. They were devastated. A lot of them had to leave.”
Vasquez’s children are ages 16, 13 and 10. Police who responded to the home said they found her in the basement with a gunshot wound to the chest after one of those kids called 911 for help.
Chaplin is from South Carolina.
He told police multiple times that he shot Vasquez by accident but police said they found several spent shell casings near her body.
He is being held in jail at this time.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
