Friends of murder-suicide victim raises money to transport body to Israel

A community is Southwest Travis County is still reeling from the loss of Lielle Kaplan.

Authorities said the nine-year-old was shot to death by her father who then shot himself.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a welfare check on December 11 to a home on El Dorado Road and found Lielle and her father dead.

The news shook friends of the family like Jessica Pratt and Renee Hooker whose kids played with Lielle and said they’ve watched her grow up. “We’re I think we are having a harder time,” Pratt said. “I think the parents are still how do you process this how do you rationalize?”

“We are struggling," said Renee Hooker. "It’s a hard thing to imagine losing such a sweet girl that had so much life and so much life left to live.”

Pratt said Lielle was an active young girl. Lielle went to Austin Waldorf School, was part of a swim team, played the piano and danced ballet.

The Austin Waldorf School has spoken to the students about Lielle’s passing. Pratt said the kids in her class wrote memories of her on the board and created an altar for her on her desk.

Pratt and Hooker are helping Lielle’s mother return her body to Israel for burial by creating a GoFundMe account. “Anything helps anything helps just so she can do what she needs to do bury her baby the way she wants to bury her get her back home and you know take care of whatever it is she needs to take care of,” Pratt said.

If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe account, click here.