Victim in murder-suicide remembered as selfless

LANSING – Bessie Rodriguez could often be found working in her yard and socializing with neighbors in the south Lansing neighborhood where people often keep to themselves.

"She's the type of person that if she cooked a big brunch buffet and invited everybody and anybody, you were welcome to come," said Reshia King, Rodriguez's former sister-in-law, who lives across the street.

Rodriguez's life was cut short Tuesday morning when she was shot and killed while arriving at work at McLaren-Greater Lansing's orthopedic hospital on South Pennsylvania Avenue in what police are calling a murder-suicide.

Rodriguez, 43, had three children and one grandson, King said.

Wednesday afternoon, King was among a steady stream of family members who consoled one another at Rodriguez's home in the 4000 block of Ballard Road. Family members described Rodriguez as selfless, and someone who brought joy to people's lives.

"She was the first one if you needed somebody to come help you and everybody else turned you down, she would have no complaints to just get up and do it," King said. "I know that sometimes when people pass away you hear that all the time, but this is true in her case."

Rodriguez spent a lot of time sprucing up her yard and garden, said Erick Bledsoe, a relative who lives across the street.

"Bessie loved to dig in the dirt," Bledsoe said. "You you always knew when the sun came down: You came over to Bessie's and she'd be outside."

The family is still in shock over Rodriguez's death, Bledsoe said. King said was not aware of what Rodriguez's relationship was with Johnnie Conner Jr., the Lansing man police said shot her before killing himself.

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"We never thought anything like that would ever happen to us, somebody getting slain going to work or something like that, going into a building," he said

Rodriguez began her career at McLaren as a dietary aid in 2006, said Brenda Densmore, a union steward for the Professional Employees International Union Local 459 Nurses group. She paid her way through school to earn a certification in medical equipment sterilization. Her last job was sterilizing surgery equipment for the hospital.

Hospital work ran in the Rodriguez family: Her mother retired from McLaren and she has a brother working in McLaren's environmental services department, Densmore said.

Rodriguez was a key player in worker fairness issues at McLaren, including the awarding of on-call hours and organizing shifts, Densmore said. Coworkers often confided in Rodriguez.

"It actually set a standard so those things that maybe happened to her maybe wouldn't happen to the next employee because she addressed them. She was very in tune to make sure she worked together with the employees and management to have those things done in the proper way," she said.

"She was that co-worker that you wanted to be around. She made a lot of friends and I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about her, ever," Densmore added.

Funeral arrangements are pending.