Soon after his sister and parents’ deaths in 2001, Sef Gonzales fronted a police press conference appealing for his family’s murderers to come forward.
Appearing every bit the shocked and grief-stricken son, Gonzales spoke clearly to cameras about how his father Teodoro or “Teddy”, 46, was his “hero” and “role model”, his mother Mary Loiva, 43, was the “heart of the family” and his younger sister Clodine, 18, was the “life in the family”.
He said he wanted justice and offered a $100,000 reward for information.
Then at their funerals, in a suit and solemn-faced, Gonzales stood in front of relatives and friends and sang a tribute to his family.
‘People don’t suspect me... I can hide myself’
As he performed an a cappella version of the Mariah CareyBoyz II Men song, One Sweet Day, singing, “Sorry, I never told you all I wanted to say”, the 20-year-old gave no hint of being the person responsible for the brutal slaying.
But over the coming months, police would come to regard Gonzales as the most likely suspect in the killings and in June 2002, they arrested him. Two years later, he was found guilty on three charges of murder and is now serving three concurrent life sentences without parole.
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