The person who killed a Grossmont College student with a knife in Lincoln Park has finally been caught fourteen years after the crime.
It was 20 years ago that Sonny Carrillo was killed after dropping off a friend at an apartment building on 47th Street near Castana Street.
His mother, Connie Meza, told NBC 7 on Monday, “He was like a perfect little kid, and even though he was 20, he looked younger.” “I miss him a lot.”
On her son’s birthday, Meza hangs posters of him at his grave and has pictures of him all over her house to remember him.
“Really, really close.” “He was my best friend,” Meza said.
Police in San Diego say that Carrillo’s boyfriend Julio Mendez killed her by stabbing her in the chest on July 29, 2011. Carrillo worked as a mechanic and planned to join the Marines after college.
Meza said, “He was a really, really funny kid at home, but when he was with other people, he was very shy and quiet.”
On that terrible July night, Carrillo drove a woman to an apartment complex so she could leave her child with the father of the child.
Samantha is what his mother calls the woman Carrillo was dropping off. Neither was she his girlfriend nor did he date her. He didn’t even know her very well. Meza says that they only met once, through a friend at church.
People who saw what happened say Samantha told Carrillo to wait in the car, but she never came back. Police say Mendez instead hit him through the open window on the driver’s side.
Mendez had not been seen or heard from in 14 long years. His picture was on the first wanted sign.
“They saw him in several places in Mexico, but they couldn’t catch him,” Meza said.
Meza says that in December of last year, she got a call from a U.S. Marshal telling her that Mendez was in police custody. Mendez was brought back to the U.S. and is now being charged with first-degree murder and abuse. Meza went to the first court date.
“I was shocked when I saw him in court.” I couldn’t say a word. Meza said, “I can’t believe he was so bold as to say not guilty.”
She didn’t believe her friends when they said Mendez must be dead by now. Being found guilty would be the long-awaited conclusion, but it would not end her pain.
In many ways, I am grateful for many things, but my heart is broken. Meza said, “It will always be broken.”
Mendez is still in jail in San Diego County without a bond. The next time he is due in court is in August.
