Recent slayings devastate small town
June 14, 2008 - 10:13PM
Sean Gaffney
MERCEDES -- Rumors abounded in this small town hours after police discovered a well-known young woman dead in her south-side apartment.

In this idyllic city where people often leave their houses unlocked, the details of 33-year-old Sandra Rincon's slaying spread rapidly as neighbors gossiped and speculated who might have killed her, frustrating police who said no one would talk while everyone seemed to know everything.

Her suspected killer, Jose Garcia Jr., 30, was found in nearby Weslaco with dried blood under his fingernails the next day. But the gossip among the city's residents never stopped.

People here proudly proclaim that their barren downtown retains the character of another age before rapid growth overtook the old buildings, as it has in so many cities across the Rio Grande Valley. But that apparent quaintness doesn't seem to extend to the types of crime that have plagued the city as of late.

In May, Abraham Garcia-Lopez, a 26-year-old Donna resident and illegal immigrant from Cancun, Q.R., Mexico, was slain in the driveway of his friends' home at the corner of West 10th Street and South Indiana Avenue - a residential neighborhood just feet from apartment buildings where children often play on the sidewalks.

"The murders have devastated this town," Mercedes police Chief Olga Maldonado said. "It's really sad."

Mercedes is no stranger to crime, even the violent variety - the town had another slaying in 2007 - but this year it seems the area has had one incident after another. From police chases to a deadly, high-speed shootout north of the city, sometimes it seemed Mercedes made headlines on a weekly basis.

"I think there's been a slight increase in the crime rate," said Jesse Contreras, a Mercedes municipal judge. "Those two incidents, the citizens took to heart. We knew the young lady and a lot of people were devastated by it."

Incomplete crime records obtained from the department through a public information request paint only a partial picture of the overall crime but do suggest the Mercedes Police Department is responding to more calls on a daily basis.

"We've annexed so much land," Maldonado said. "Like any city, with growth the crime increases. I just think that it's something we're going to see."

Mercedes is a strikingly poor town. Of the population of about 16,000, nearly 37 percent live below the poverty line, according to the 2000 U.S. census. Before 2006, the economic expansion that enveloped most of the Valley had largely overlooked Mercedes.

Then the Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets mall was constructed in 2006. That was when things really started to change, residents said.

"It's disappointing. It's not like it used to be," 52-year-old Stanley Carr said as he served alcohol at the Blue Bar on Ohio Street, across from the police station. "You could actually go out and take a Sunday drive. You can't do that no more."

Still, Carr and other residents welcomed the new mall and the increased city revenue it heralded. They even accepted the crime. Even so, some lament that Mercedes is losing the values that have long held it together.

"You would leave your doors unlocked and there were no bars on the windows," said Frank Calvillo, 60, a teacher who grew up in Mercedes and sipped beer on a quiet afternoon at the Veterans of Foreign Wars lounge on Ohio Street.

"Everybody knew everybody here. You could go into anyone's house," he said.

One can still observe occasional flashes of that older, more idyllic sense of community.

On a recent Sunday here, hundreds packed a poorly ventilated old barn to support Beto's Boxing Gym, a local athletic center that was the victim of two burglaries in recent months. With the proceeds from the benefit boxing exhibition, the gym should be able to replace all the stolen equipment.

Events like those bouts are the reason Maldonado is sure the recent slayings won't leave any lasting scars on the town.

"Bottom line is that these people will stick together. It's a close-knit community and I'll say it time and time again," Maldonado said. "In a crisis situation these people will come together."

Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434






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