June 19, 2008, 10:46PM
Officials hope to find slain family's kin
Salvadoran couple were here legally; children's identities not confirmed


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Authorities have released the identities of a couple from El Salvador slain in an apparent murder-suicide last month with their three young children but have not located relatives to claim the five bodies.

The couple has been identified as Salvador Perez Alfaro, 42, and Estela Marilu Quintanilla, 34, according to the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office. The identities of three children found in their Houston home May 10 have not been confirmed.

The two immigrants had authorization to live and work in the country under a humanitarian program known as Temporary Protective Status, lawyers and activists said.

Members of Houston's immigrant community said Alfaro told them he was a former member of El Salvador's military forces. They recalled him as a quiet, honest and hard-working man who earned his living as a roofing contractor.

Francisco Soltis, director of the East Side Job Development Center, said Alfaro frequently picked up day laborers and was using them for a roofing job the week before his death.

''We talked, but he wasn't really very communicative. He was very serious," Soltis recalled. ''From what the persons who went to work with him told me, he never failed to pay them. I can tell you that."


Far away from home
Both Alfaro and Quintanilla had been granted Temporary Protected Status by U.S. immigration authorities. But TPS regulations did not allow them to travel home, a condition activists say could have strained ties with their families.

Congress created TPS to allow immigrants to remain in the country if armed conflicts, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions prevent them from safely returning to their homeland. Because of hurricanes that devastated Central America, TPS is available to immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Manuel Solis, a Houston immigration attorney, said Alfaro came to the U.S. in 1991 and obtained TPS until 2005 but did not renew it.

''I don't know why he committed suicide — if they were stressed out, but it's not a good situation," Solis said.


Families lose touch
The Medical Examiner's Office has ruled that Alfaro committed suicide and that Quintanilla and the three children were killed by gunshot wounds.

Staff at the Central American Resource Center in Houston said they helped Quintanilla fill out applications for TPS in 2003 and in 2005. In her latest application, Quintanilla listed her birthplace near the capital of San Salvador and indicated she was single.

She also listed three children — Jay A. Alfaro, 6, Ivy Q. Alfaro, 4, and Claire Alfaro, 3 — as living with her.

Maria Jimenez, a Houston immigration activist who works with the center, said immigrants frequently lose touch with relatives during long separations.

''It doesn't surprise me. Over the years we've had many experiences where relatives come to us and for many reasons have lost contact with family members," Jimenez said.

Officials with the Medical Examiner's Office say they initially believed Quintanilla was from Mexico but now have information she and Alfaro were both from El Salvador.

''We are needing the community's help in locating the loved ones of this family," said deputy chief investigator Jennifer Coston.

Coston said a delay in locating relatives is not unusual when those who died are from another country.

''When the family is from another region, they might not get news of the deaths," she said. ''In those cases, we have to work closely with consulates, friends and acquaintances."

james.pinkerton@chron.com






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