A young woman died in Fairfax County six days after what her family calls a brutal act of domestic violence. Loved ones say fear about her immigration status kept her from asking for help.

Ana Mena Membreno was 28, originally from El Salvador and had a whole life ahead of her. Early the morning of Aug. 30, police responded to a call on Jefferson Avenue in Falls Church. According to authorities, Mena Membreno's partner called because she wasn't breathing.

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Her sister, Raquel Sánchez Membreno, told our sister station Telemundo 44 about her shock upon seeing her in the hospital.

"When I saw her, she was on oxygen, on wires, on medication, on a lot of medication," she said in Spanish.

While Mena Membreno spent days in cr

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