SAN ANTONIO – Rebekah Terrance, 24, was so many things.
“She was a cheerleader. She ran cross-country for one year. She participated in several pageants, so she was a beauty queen,” said her mother, Adriana Terrance.
More important than her accomplishments, she was a pillar of happiness in her tight-knit family.
“Her smile, she lit up every room,” Terrance said.
Rebekah died from fentanyl poisoning in October 2022, not realizing something she took contained the deadly substance.
The following month, Terrance ordered Rebekah’s headstone from Angelic Monuments in San Antonio and was told it would take nine to 12 months to be delivered.
Sixteen months later, Rebekah’s grave still lays bare.
“It makes me feel like I have let her down by not having and not having a headstone at the plot,” Terrance said, crying.
Terrance paid Angelic Monuments owner Elena Moreno $3,278 upfront. She showed KSAT a carbon copy of the check, which she said Moreno cashed.
“This is a sales agreement from Angelic Monuments that is located at Commercial Avenue,” Terrance said, picking up the Angelic Monuments contract.
That building on Commercial Avenue is where Terrance first met Moreno.
“She took her time to show us a lot of different headstones. She took her time to draw the headstone to show us what it might look like,” Terrance said.
But that building has belonged to another business for about six months now.
Angelic Monuments’ Google page acknowledges the move under its “updates” section, saying:
“This is a temporary closure due to family emergency and will resume as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience in this matter. Angelic Monuments office at 2815 Commercial Ave. is closed. We will advise of new address when it is available.”
However, Terrance said business did not seem to resume, and a new address was never posted.
The business owner who took over the Commercial Avenue building told KSAT that Moreno’s customers have shown up at his door, looking for her and their headstones.
Terrance said she still tried to offer grace because of the original timeline Moreno gave her.
“She asked me to be patient and she said, ‘Please be understanding. I’m also going through some personal issues,’” Terrance said. “I was also starting to get worried,” Terrance said.
At that nine-month mark, Terrance got in touch with KSAT’s Courtney Friedman, who talked on the phone with Moreno twice in the span of two months.
The first call was in October 2023, when Moreno said she had already ordered the headstone, and it was taking a long time.
The second call was in November 2023, when Moreno offered to give Terrance a full refund.
The refund was never issued, and that was the last time Moreno would respond.
KSAT found the official document showing Angelic Monument’s certificate of ownership, which listed another San Antonio address.
A KSAT crew went there, found a row of headstones along the side yard, and knocked on the door.
A woman answered, and when asked if Elena Moreno was there, she said, “Not right now.”
When asked if Moreno lived at that house, the woman said, “No.”
There were other ways KSAT tried to get a hold of Moreno.
When she continued advertising on her Angelic Monuments Facebook page, we left a comment but did not get a reply.
The three numbers we found associated with her business are now disconnected or not accepting calls.
She did not respond to an Instagram message, and at last check, she’d deleted her Facebook page.
When Terrance looked for that Facebook page, she was stunned to find something else — a new post warning others about Moreno’s business.
Angela DiEnno made that post.
After her stepson, Josh, died, DiEnno said she paid Moreno $3,052 for his headstone, but she never received it. She now cannot get a hold of Moreno.
DiEnno led KSAT to three other families who said they also lost their money, collectively equaling $16,236.
On top of that, a separate KSAT viewer reached out to us about her husband’s headstone, which cost $3,050.
That adds up to six families that paid a total sum of $25,616.
The Better Business Bureau page also offered insight, showing five complaints against Angelic Monuments in the last year, describing the same scenario.
In a statement to KSAT, the BBB said the following:
Currently, BBB has assigned this business a F-rating based on numerous customer complaints filed against the company in the last few months. Three of these complaints are regarding issues that BBB classifies as a ‘Serious Complaint’ with customers alleging they:
- Pre-purchase and pay for headstones but do not receive their order in a timely manner.
- Wait for up to and over a year for delivery of product.
- Are not provided enough information from the company regarding the status of their order.
BBB has not initiated an official investigation into this company at this time, but we are keeping a close eye on the complaints received to determine if opening one is warranted.
Better Business Bureau
Terrance doesn’t want to wait for an investigation to be launched.
“I had to resort to filing a small claims suit to see how the court can remedy this situation,” she said. “I have the official receipt with a case number.”
Terrance will get a court date in a couple of weeks and is holding onto a sliver of hope that Moreno will attend the hearing.
“She should have a conscience about taking people’s money. I didn’t have money to just throw away, and I know there are other families in that same situation,” Terrance said.
The families involved told KSAT they want to make sure other people do not get involved with the business.
In searching for information about Moreno, KSAT found a YouTube video from January 2023 of Moreno talking about beneficial resources from the Southside First Economic Development Council.
Southside First supports small businesses and entrepreneurs, which suggests Moreno’s company was up and running at some point.
KSAT reached out to see if the organization had heard of any complaints, and it said, “This is the first we have heard of this.”
As Terrance continues to hear more stories from other families, she is trying to come up with a plan B for her daughter’s grave. What she hasn’t stopped doing is visiting Rebekah to lay flowers on the grass.
“When I do visit her, I always talk to her. I tell her I’m still fighting to get her headstone. ‘You’ll have one, one way or another,’” she said in tears.
Several families said they have filed police reports. KSAT has looked for any current criminal reports but has found no record that Elena Moreno has been criminally charged.
KSAT also did not find any current civil judgments.
If you have paid for an Angelic Monuments headstone and have not received it, the Better Business Bureau asks you to reach out. Call the local BBB office at 844-477-1099 or go to their website to file a complaint.