Stuffed animals at the victims' home express grief of neighbors and friends.
NICK de la TORRE: CHRONICLE



May 16, 2008, 10:51PM
'LOST IN THE WORLD'
Mystery still surrounds slain family
Murder-suicide likely in deaths of parents, kids


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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They are officially listed as case numbers 1548 to 1552 at the Harris County Medical Examiner's office. It's a stark, sterile fate for an immigrant family of two parents and three young children whose bodies lay in storage at the county morgue.

One week ago today, the family was found after an apparent murder-suicide at their northeast Houston home. In the days since, few details have emerged about the parents and children. Officials are still laboring to confirm their identities. But one of the most puzzling questions remaining is this: How can an entire family die and no one come forward to claim them?

''Poor people, they get lost in the world, and that's what happened here I guess," said Mary Alvarado, a longtime neighbor of the family.

Police believe the man killed his wife and children and then himself. There are no known motives for the shootings.

The Hispanic couple has been identified through fingerprints, but their names have not been released because their relatives have not been reached, officials said. DNA tests are under way to confirm that the three slain children, ages 3, 5 and 6, are related to the couple.

''It's pretty rare that an entire family would go unnoticed, unless their relatives are in another country or another part of this country," said Beverly Begay, chief investigator for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

Begay said the consulates of Mexico and El Salvador have been assisting in efforts to locate relatives, and descriptions of the family have been passed on to media outlets in those countries. The couple's identities and country of origin were learned when their prints were run through government databases.

''We just pretty much have to wait until they can locate any leads for us to follow up on," she said.

Meanwhile, neighbors and friends have pinned flowers, sympathetic messages, a half-dozen Teddy bears and dolls to the gate at the entrance of the family's home in the 10100 block of Stonewood.

''May God Have Mercy," one hand-lettered sign reads.

''Rest in Peace Alfaro Family," another sign reads, and included the names of the three children.

Also on the gate was a large yellow poster board with a picture of a young boy dressed in a white graduation gown and cap and proudly holding a diploma. The bottom of the poster was labeled ''Kindergarten class of 2007-2008," and the words ''In loving memory of Jay Alfaro" were next to the boy's photo. It was signed by about two dozen children.

At nearby Tidwell Elementary, kindergarten teacher Shaneena Granderson confirmed the slain boy was in her class and was named Jay Alfaro. ''He would have been graduating with our class on May 23rd," she said.

A telephone directory lists a Salvador Alfaro at the address where the family lived on Stonewood, but it remains unclear if that was the father's name.


Self-inflicted wound
Last Saturday afternoon, Houston police found the 42-year-old man lying in the doorway from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A rifle was found nearby, and a 34-year-old woman and the three children were found dead inside. All had been shot in the head.

The family were regular customers at Supermercado San Francisco, a small meat and vegetable store near the subdivison.

''I know who they are. They came in here two days before, all of them together," said store manager Bidulfo Montoya. ''It makes you sad. They are clients you are getting to know, and this is something you don't expect."

Richard ''Cowboy" Hare, a 77-year-old retiree who lives close to the family's home, said his neighbor seemed worried when he came over for a brief visit the day before police found the bodies.

The neighbor, Hare said, had told him he was a legal immigrant from El Salvador. He had worked as a truck driver, but most recently was a self-employed construction contractor who built the modest woodframe home the family lived in, Hare said.

''He stood there and didn't say nothing, acting kind of worried," Hare recalled of their last visit. ''I figured he was broke and needed food so I asked him ... and he said no."

Hare said before his neighbor left, he again asked if he needed food for his family or was having financial troubles.

''Your electricity off or something?" Hare said he asked, and the neighbor replied: ''No, it's worse than that."


Close family
Hare, along with other neighbors, described the family as extremely close, and partial to taking evening rides on a pet pony they kept in a fenced lot in the wooded subdivision.

''As far as I could see, they were a typically good family," Hare said. ''They loved their children. He used to walk the children on a little Shetland pony. And she was always at the house, taking care of them."

Alvarado, the longtime neighbor, said the father once asked her to read him a letter, in English, he received explaining why an employer was refusing to pay him thousands he was owed for completing a construction job.

''He was a nice person, and he loved those kids. You could tell," Alvarado said.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 86740.html