WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BABY-FACED KILLER?

Two decades after murdering his parents and sister, Sef Gonzales is seeking a pardon | 20 years on

- Emma Babbington

Soon after his sister and parents’ grisly deaths in 2001, Sef Gonzales fronted a police press conference in Sydney, appealing for his family’s murderers to come forward.

Appearing every bit the grief-stricken son, he 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 to sing a tribute to his family.

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.