Vela Peeva was born on 16 March 1922 to ethnic Bulgarian parents Peyo and Katerina in the village of Kamenitsa, today a neighbourhood of Velingrad.
As a teenager, as she was a bright student, she was sent to live alone in the city of Pazardzhik to attend a prestigious high school, so as to achieve a better future than was possible in her hometown.
A local forest worker brought her food and medicines, and when Vela was just healing, he feared he would be discovered by the gendarmerie and betrayed her.
After her death, the gendarmerie beheaded her body and strode around the nearby villages with Vela's head impaled on a spike.
After beheading Vela, the fascists went to Stoyo Kalpazanov's cell and began interrogating him about the whereabouts of the remaining partisans.