was an American heiress who was murdered by her husband while on their honeymoon.

Early Life

Victoria was the youngest child of Drew and Portia Van Kress. Victoria was a sweet girl, a natural beauty who was kind and gracious from a young age. She was close friends with her cousin, Lydia Van Kress. The two were practically inseparable as children. Lydia’s disappearance when they were teenagers devastated Victoria.

Charity Work

When the Van Kress family created the charity For Love of Lydia, which helps reunite families, Victoria threw herself into the work at once. She started off by manning phones on the tip lines, always hoping she’d be the one to get the call that would help her find her cousin. After a couple of years, she became the face of the charity, constantly lobbying to help families that had been torn apart. The charity was her passion and she remained active with it all throughout college. Afterwards, she devoted herself full time to the work of the charity. In an interview, she once said that she saw Lydia in the face of every runaway. She also expressed private guilt and grief over not having been able to help her cousin with whatever she was struggling to prior to her leaving home.

Tragedy

Victoria met her husband, James Smith, while he was working for her family. She invited him to accompany her to a charity event and the couple was soon inseparable. They married several months later on June 2, 2017. Four days later she was found dead in her honeymoon hotel room in Maui. She had been strangled to death. Her husband, James, was immediately arrested for her murder. He was convicted of killing her and embezzling money from the charity Victoria had worked so hard for. Justice has yet to be found for Victoria, though, since James escaped police custody before his sentencing hearing and has been on the run ever since. Victoria’s body is buried in a family mausoleum in Riverview Cemetery in Breakout City. There has been a steady stream of flowers and candles left at the site for months as the families she helped and the people who loved her continue to mourn her loss and pray for her murderer to be captured.