Elizabeth Ortiz

### Cause of Death

Bitten on the rib by an infected and later shot in the head by Travis to prevent reanimation.

## Family

* Christopher Manawa (Son)
* Travis Manawa (Ex-Husband)

**Elizabeth Ortiz**, better know as **Liza**, was a major character in the first season. She was portrayed by Elizabeth Rodriguez.

Liza was a trainee nurse who used to be married to Travis Manawa. They also had a son, Chris.

## Biography

### Background

Divorced from Travis. They were married for 13 years and have been separated for 3.

Liza is a no-nonsense person, a single mother working her way through nursing school. Nursing has been her dream and, now that she's on her own, she is pursuing it.

She's been described as "a multi-tasking whirlwind", focused on her future and on raising her son, Chris.

### Season 1

#### "Pilot"

Liza calls Travis, her ex-husband, to ask him if plans for the weekend are still on. The plans were for Christopher Manawa, Liza and Travis' son, to spend the weekend with Travis and the rest of the Clark family. Travis asks to speak with Chris - who isn't keen and the call just doesn't go well. After trying to persuade his teenage son to spend the weekend with his father's new family (can't think why *that* doesn't go well) Travis loses patience and speaks again to Liza saying "Keep him." before hanging up on her with no goodbyes.

#### "So Close, Yet So Far"

*Main Article: Liza Ortiz/Season 1/So Close, Yet So Far*

#### "The Dog"

*Main Article: Liza Ortiz/Season 1/The Dog*

#### "Not Fade Away"

*Main Article: Liza Ortiz/Season 1/Not Fade Away*

#### "Cobalt"

*Main Article: Liza Ortiz/Season 1/Cobalt*

#### "The Good Man"

*Main Article: Liza Ortiz/Season 1/The Good Man*

### Season 2

#### "Monster"

After being mercifully shot in the head by Travis, Liza's corpse joins the group in boarding *Abigail*. Chris can be seen mourning Liza throughout the episode, given the fact he remains close to her corpse. After a small discussion, the group decide to cast her off into the ocean. After Travis says a final obituary, Chris hastily pushes her corpse off the boat, where it slowly sinks into the ocean.

## Relationships

* *Travis - Ex-husband*

Travis was Liza’s ex-husband and the father of her son, Chris. Although they were not together, they negotiated who Chris got to spend time with on certain weekdays, proving that Liza was on good terms with Travis and trusted him enough to leave him around their child. Travis and Liza also had great communication skills whenever dealing with their son’s attitude towards Travis, considering Chris thought he was to blame. Despite being divorced, they worked together to raise their son as well as they could. Even when Chris was caught in the middle of a protest, Liza traveled with Travis to locate their son.

Ultimately, Liza and Travis respected one another and shared the same amount of love for their only son. When Liza was bitten, she placed her trust in Travis to kill her before she turned. Although Travis was hesitant to pull the trigger, she mentioned that they would be doing it for their son, knowing that Chris would never have to do it. After shooting Liza, Travis breaks down in tears.

* *Chris - Son, with Travis*

Chris is the only son of Liza and Travis. She adored him and deeply cared for his well being. Divorced from his father, Liza did what she thought was best, and encouraged Chris to spend as much quality time with him. Being a teenager, Chris often had a rebellious attitude towards Liza, which she learned to manage.

Even though she did leave him at one point to work at the medical facility, she knew Chris would be in the safe hands of Travis’ family. Before Chris found out she was bitten, Liza told him that she loved him and later admitted to Travis and Maddie that she didn’t want Chris to experience killing her if the time came.

* *Madison - Ex-husband's fiance*

Although it was never specified, it was heavily implied that Maddie and Liza weren't so favorable of one another. Maddie made it evident that her family was her top priority, and could care less for the safety of Liza and possibly her son. Regardless of that, Liza decided to form an alliance with Maddie when she realized their current situation. Although, at one point, she lost Maddie's trust by letting the military take Nick, she redeemed herself when saving him from a pack of zombies at the military facility. It goes without saying that Liza was also thankful for the nurturing of her son while she was gone.

When Liza was scratched, she placed her trust in Maddie after she confronted Liza's odd behavior. Liza asked Maddie if she could do the favor in killing her, however, Maddie couldn't bring herself to do it.

* *Nick*

Aware of his history of drug abuse and situation with withdrawals, Liza showed concern towards Nick health. Liza took it upon herself to look after sick citizens in the safe zone after being quarantined. On behalf of Liza, Nick was also one of the first to receive medical examination from Exner.

When the military tore Nick from his family, Liza opposed, stating that she initially planned on looking after him on her own. Either way, he was taken to the facility and she constantly questioned his status as if he were her on son. When the area was overrun by zombies, she ran back into the building for the sole purpose of finding and rescuing him.

* *Griselda Salazar*

Along with Travis and Chris, Liza was introduced to Griselda when she encouraged her husband, Daniel, to hide them in his barber shop during the riots. When Griselda was injured in the middle of a riot, Liza tended to her wound. Liza knew the extent of the damage, and presumed that it met Griselda would die. Doing what she could to care for the injury, she eventually placed Griselda under the care of Exner. She suffered septic shock, and Griselda died. To save her from coming back as a zombie, Liza took it upon herself to shoot her with the cattle gun.

* *Bethany Exner*

Liza saw Dr. Exner as an interference on her medical care at the safe zone initially, but gain a closer friendship later in season 1. When unwell people from the safe zone were being transported to the medical facility, Exner advised Liza to come along as a help in the medical ward, to which Liza eventually agreed. At the facility, Liza and Exner were often seen together, talking about dynamics on the outside, patients or Liza's family. When Exner realized that the facility was to get overrun with zombies, she told Liza to go and escape. However, Liza returned later to ask Exner for advice, but discovers that she had euthanized all the patients and Liza is shocked by this. After she gives advice, Exner tells them that there is still nowhere to go. Liza asks her to come with them and help other people, but she refuses.

* *Hector Ramirez*
* *Cynthia Ramirez*

Liza presumably liked Cynthia. This is probably because she was more than willing to help Cynthia's husband, Hector. Cynthia was very grateful for this. This is shown when she offers Liza some soup and asks her to stay longer at Cynthia's home. Also, Cynthia praised Liza for her help with Hector when Bethany Exner came over to help him further.

## *Image gallery*

*At The Military Hospital with Dr Exner.Liza is bitten and asks Madison to kill herLiza convinces Travis that nothing can be done, she is infected and wants to die and not turn*

## Trivia<

* The character Liza was originally called "Andrea Chapman" for the casting calls
* The character of Liza wasn't originally intended to be Latina.
* In the original casting call this character was described in a way that doesn't really match with Liza as she is played by Elizabeth Rodriguez, as "A somewhat wilted flower child, forty-something Andrea has retreated to the outskirts of the city to recover after a divorce"

## References

1. ↑ "Pilot"
2. ↑ AMC's Liza Ortiz bio
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Season 1
4. ↑ From the FTWD Panel at SDCC2015, video on the wiki