Gilroy
– A Gilroy man was found stabbed to death early Sunday morning
in a downtown alley, police said.
Gilroy – A Gilroy man was found stabbed to death early Sunday morning in a downtown alley, police said.
Relatives identified the victim as Juan Lugo, nicknamed ‘Juanito’ for his short stature despite his 50-plus years. Lugo moved to the U.S. from Mexico several years ago to visit his only son, 26-year-old Jose Guadalupe Lugo, then stayed, working odd jobs to support himself, his son said. One week, he sold weight-loss pills; the next, massages; another week, he might find a job landscaping, neighbors said. His son said Juan Lugo’s doctor’s appointments interfered with a full-time job, but said he didn’t know what his illness was.
Recently, Lugo’s brother died, leaving his sick wife alone in Mexico. Diabetes left her unable to walk. Friday, as his barber trimmed his hair, Lugo spoke of returning to Mexico to care for her. Before he died, Lugo had purchased a plane ticket home for today – two days after police found his body.
Police gave few details about Lugo’s death, saying only that his body was found at 12:54am Sunday in the alley behind La Colonia Latina, 7261 Monterey St., between Old Gilroy and Eighth streets. There were no calls to police before the incident, said Detective Stan Devlin, no reports of a fight, of noise, screaming or any other activity. Police are unsure of the killer’s motive, and unclear as to how many suspects to seek. Cameras mounted behind Apatzingan Meat Market haven’t proven helpful, Devlin said. As of press time Monday, no arrests had been made.
Sunday morning, Lugo’s son found out his father was dead, and rushed home from a San Juan Bautista construction site.
“I didn’t think it was him until I saw his bicycle,” said Jose Lugo gravely, sitting in his cousin’s apartment, a few doors down from the crime scene. Juan Lugo often circled downtown on his bike, a bluish 10-speed found in the alley near his body. After police swabbed the bike for DNA evidence, it was returned to his son. “Later, I walked outside and I could see the mark where his body was. The firemen pressure-washed it, but you can still see the mark.”
Friends described Lugo as “tranquilo” – calm – kind and devout. He often went door-to-door distributing pamphlets from his Eigleberry Street church, Familias de Cristo. The only thing his killers stole from him, said Jose Lugo, was his Bible.
“He was a nice person, not someone who looked for trouble,” said Juan Padilla, an Eigleberry Street resident who works as a DJ at Rio Nilo. Sunday morning, he returned home at 2am to find police cars lining his block. “I don’t know who would have killed him.”
Neighbor Ruth Bernal, who once rented a room to Lugo, agreed.
“He won a lot of people’s hearts,” she said.
Bernal and Padilla said that Lugo was gay, though they couldn’t name a specific boyfriend. Another neighbor, who preferred to speak anonymously, said simply, “He looked like he was gay. You can tell when a guy is gay.”
“He didn’t care what people said,” added neighbor Mercedes Casarez, 16. “He just ignored it if people said things to him.”
Jose Lugo had heard the rumors as well, but dismissed them.
“Some people thought he was gay,” said Jose Lugo, mentioning his father’s expressive gestures, which were often stereotyped as gay. “But I never saw anything like that.”
Police said the murder is not currently being investigated as a hate crime, and were not aware Monday that neighbors thought Lugo was gay. Lugo was not apparently robbed: An undisclosed amount of cash was left in his wallet, police said. Nearby businesses have complained of frequent break-ins from the alley, said Jesus Hernandez, a loan consultant who works near the crime scene.
“We’re putting in new cameras because of it,” said Hernandez, who learned of the murder from a concerned friend who knew he worked nearby. “We have a lot of druggies behind this building.”
The murder is the first in Gilroy this year.
Jose Lugo, still stunned, recounted the nights he spent with his father in Gilroy, at his home near San Ysidro Park. As a teen in Mexico, he went straight from school to work, barely seeing his father.
“I didn’t see him for 18 years,” he recalled. “Even now, I work early to late – but he’d invite me to his house for dinner, just to see me.”
Speaking of the murder, another neighbor cited Lugo’s warmth and generosity, then shuddered.
“Que feo,” she murmured: How ugly. “Que barbara.” How barbaric.
