'The only thing that makes me feel better is that they're together:' Mother of motorcyclist killed on state Route 57 remembers him and his sister

LORAIN — The dining room wall in Jessica Mojica's south Lorain home is filled with photos and mementos serving as a tribute for her oldest daughter, Milenna Lopez, who was killed in early 2022. Mojica never thought she'd have to make a second wall for her oldest son. Javier Alvarez, 23, of Lorain, was killed in a crash on state Route 57 near Mayfield Street on July 26. According to the State Highway Patrol, a 2013 Mazda 3 driven by a 17-year-old girl was heading west on Mayfield Street and stopped at the stop sign at Route 57 before pulling into the intersection. Alvarez, driving a 2022 Yamaha MTN 850 motorcycle north on Route 57, struck the vehicle. Alvarez was on the way to his mother's house in Lorain with the intention of storing his motorcycle in her garage when the forecast called for rain, Mojica explained. Alvarez had promised to text his girlfriend when he made it to his mother's house, but a text never came. Then their texts and calls stopped going through. Driving just a couple of minutes up the road, Mojica got to the intersection first and saw her son's favorite shoes — white snakeskin Air Jordans — but even then she didn't want to believe it was him lying in the street. It wasn't until she saw the black backpack he always carried while riding that the attempts to rationalize — maybe the bike wasn't his or those weren't really his shoes — finally faded away. "I just, I lost it … I was in such denial I cannot be going through this again," she said. "And I remember my cousin said 'Just take it easy.' and I remember screaming no, this is my third child. How are you going to tell me to stay calm? I can't." The day Alvarez died, he stopped by his mother's house earlier in the afternoon — an unusual occurrence since he worked night shifts. It had been the same when his older sister, Milenna Lopez was killed last year, Mojica said. Lopez, 24, was shot and killed in January 2022 outside the McDonald's restaurant she managed in Sheffield. Her ex-boyfriend, James Kimbrough has been charged with her murder and his trial is set to start on Lopez's birthday. Lopez sat and spoke with Mojica the night before she was killed — another unusual occurrence given the pair's busy schedules. "I think about all that stuff now and I'm like maybe God was giving me another chance to see him, give me a little bit of time," she said. "… So I'm blessed that I was able to spend that little bit of time with both of them before their accidents." Fatherhood, cakes and Air Jordans Alvarez had recently become a father. His daughter Yareli Aliera Milenna Alvarez was born less than a month prior, Mojica said. "(Yareli) came as a surprise. We thought she was coming to replace Milenna, but she came to replace him," Mojica said, her voice breaking. Alvarez was a nervous new father, his mother said. These were milestones he wanted to share with his older sister. Mojica said she used to tease him that any daughter he had would be just as strong-willed as Lopez. A photo of Alvarez beaming while holding newborn Yareli was at the top of Mojica's T-shirt Friday morning, featuring a photo collage for her second oldest child, and the third she's lost. Mojica lost another son, Isaias, while 6½ months pregnant with him and his twin in 2014. One day an ultrasound showed two tiny heartbeats. The next, Isais' was gone. "It hits different like you never think you'd lose three children," she said, adding her 16-year-old daughter has medical conditions too. "It's been rough. I just say God is the only one that keeps me going." Mojica sees pieces of her oldest daughter in the four children she left behind and hopes to find pieces of Alvarez in his daughter as she grows up. She knew Alvarez was going to be a great dad — remembering when he'd save his birthday money when he turned 8 for his future kids. Alvarez was a 2018 graduate of Elyria Catholic and had been a safety on the football team and started working at 16 at Burger King. He then learned welding and other skills from an older co-worker who took him under his wing, she said, and had most recently worked nights at Walmart after getting injured at a previous job. But he was pushing for Mojica to open a business with him. He'd been looking at a storefront in Sheffield, and the pair had already picked out a name: "Milea's Heavenly Cakes and More" — another homage to Lopez's memory using her nickname. Mojica would make the cakes, and Alvarez planned to make Puerto Rican-style sandwiches and other food. He loved to cook, she said, something he'd picked up from both his parents. As a teen, he'd been their family's food critic, with a passion for watching cooking shows and plans to be a chef. He'd started riding motorcycles late in his teens, but quickly sold his first one, she said. He bought the Yamaha about a year and a half ago and it had been a point of contention between them. Mojica would beg him not to ride it, hiding the control for the garage door to try to stop him from taking it out. But it never worked. He also got into investments and stocks, hoping to make it big, she said. He was known for being humble and respectful, she said, to the point that when he was a child he avoided telling his parents he'd outgrown his shoes. He didn't want to burden them. "That just breaks my heart all the time that I think about it, how humble he was that he thought that wasn't important," she said. He was stylish, always wearing name brands like Ralph Lauren, but his shoes were something special — a hobby he and his older sister shared. Mojica never cared, as long as he was paying for things with his own money she told him he could buy a pair of gym shoes every paycheck if he wanted. "He was very particular about stuff like that," she said. "He was simple, but he wanted to look good." 'They're together' Family was important, she said — both she and her husband come from large families and she said Alvarez would make it a point to stop and see everyone. If there were four different gatherings happening at four different houses, he'd stop by each, she said. But Alvarez and Lopez had always been exceptionally close, she said. It was a running joke that if any girl broke the young man's heart, they'd have Lopez, Mojica and his aunts to contend with. "Javi was the baby," she said with a laugh. With only three years between them, they grew up and went to school together and he missed her terribly, she said. Knowing the pair are together again gives Mojica some peace. "The only thing that makes me feel better is that they're together," she said. "I have all my three kids together, finally. … They're together, they're happy — that's what makes me feel at least a little peace in my heart." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.