Woman killed at Redford motel remembered: ‘Her presence was like air’

REDFORD, Mich. (FOX 2) - A woman was shot and killed at a Redford motel over the weekend and now her boyfriend was taken into custody and charged with her murder. Her shocked friends are remembering her for the life she lived.

Valentina Colban was killed early Saturday morning at Travelers Motor Inn Motel on Telegraph near W. Chicago. Police found the 37-year-old woman with a gunshot to her face. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Her boyfriend, Jose Angel Oguendo-Torreulla was arrested at the scene.

"What’s not to say - she, her presence was like air, sun," her lifelong friend Rozenda Cruz said.

Cruz said her good friend may be gone but she knows she's at peace now.

"'She’s at peace and she’s finally away from you' that’s what I would say to you, she’s finally away from you," she said.

Police were called to the Travelers Motor Inn Motel on Telegraph near W. Chicago just before 5 a.m. Saturday on reports that a person had been shot but still had a pulse. When officers arrived, they performed lifesaving measures on the victim until they were taken to a hospital by EMS.

Valentina Colban was shot and killed at a Redford motel room and her boyfriend is now in custody.

Oguendo-Torreulla was arraigned and charged on Monday with second degree murder. He rocked back and forth as the judge read the charges before he was ultimately remanded to the Wayne County Jail.

Colban’s friends are remembering a bright light, gone too soon.

"We lost a really good, great person somebody always there for me," Yantiza Lopez said. "She was a hard worker, and she loved everybody. She was a people person. She enjoyed being out with friends, watching movies, going to work, being with her family, hanging out with her nieces and nephews."