Families Reflect on Lost Lives, Guilty Verdict Following Capital Murder Trial

“Justice” was one of the few words Terry Duarte could get out between the tears in front of the Tom Green County Courthouse on Thursday, where one of her son’s killers had just been sentenced to life for taking away her only son, Alvaro Carrillo, in an execution-style shooting back in Sept. 2013.

Surrounded by sisters, daughters, cousins and extended family, Duarte leaned on others for support as she contemplated the verdict with only a half-sense of relief.

“It’s one done and we’ve got one more,” she said quietly.

Lashes wet and eyes red and swollen from nearly three full days of stress and crying, Duarte and her family recalled the man they lost on Sept. 1 with laughter through the tears.

“He was a sweet person,” said his aunt, Josie Duarte. “He wanted everyone to be laughing and not to be sad about anything. He loved his mom so much and his grandma. When he would see us, he would always give a kiss on the forehead.”

“And a hug,” sister Amanda Carrillo added.

“I miss my kiss on the forehead,” Duarte finished.

After he was killed, friends, acquaintances and strangers reached out to the family to share their stories of the man they had known. The memories, his family said, all reflected how they’d known Alvaro: to be a caring, loving and respectful person who would always help others before he helped himself.

“We got tons of calls and messages and emails—people’s stories—about him,” Amanda said. “‘I just met him and he helped me with my groceries’. He helped his neighbor clean out his house. He didn’t ask for anything in return. He gave his friend his last $5 that he had to buy some food to eat.”

The last time any of his family saw him alive was at a family reunion held out at the lake on the day that he was killed.  The event was the first the family had ever held, and was planned to last the whole weekend, but ended abruptly on Sunday morning.

“What should have been so fun and exciting—it was, the first day, so fun and exciting,” Josie Duarte contemplated. “He was happy there, he was at the boat rides with his girlfriend and he was so happy. To find out on Sunday morning when we were getting ready to get Sunday’s activities ready and to get that phone call. I will never forget this family reunion.”

Despite the shattered memories of the tragic news on day two of the Duarte family reunion, for Josie Duarte, the day remains her fondest memory of Alvaro. She recalled him playing with his nieces and nephews, and referenced the photos the district attorney had used in the trial.

The Duartes had made t-shirts for the reunion in various colors with their family name printed in white above the silhouettes of several people in different poses. Those shirts turned up during the investigation, including a red one found in a burn bin at Daniel Uvalle’s girlfriend’s house, where he was found, and where two spent shotgun shells were also located.

“When I see him in the pictures and I see the family reunion shirts and what those kids did to those shirts, it hurts me,” Josie said. “That was supposed to be something for us to remember, not something to feel bad about.”

The Duarte family will never have a reunion again, they said.

For aunt Jo Ann Gonzales, she remembers Alvaro by his comical good nature, and how he would always bring everyone to laughter.

“My fondest memory of him is when he was a young boy,” she said. “They were all sitting around—all the grandkids—and my mother was asking them, ‘So what do you want to be when you grow up?’ One of them said ‘police’, the other one said ‘doctor’ or something and not Chick (Alvaro), he wanted to be a clown because he wanted to make everybody laugh. That was his joy.”

“He actually said ‘mime,’” his mother added, as all laughed in memory.

Among the Carrillo and Duarte families was Karen Freeman, a petite blonde who has fought for justice with an unequaled fire since her daughter was killed alongside Carrillo on Sept. 1.

Shaking with relief and rage after the verdict was read, Freeman said her life ended the night her 22-year-old daughter was taken from her by then-17-year-old Daniel Uvalle and 18-year-old Johnny Garcia.

“I promised my baby girl justice and I will do whatever it takes to get her that,” she said, shaking and holding a pendant worn around her neck containing the ashes of her fallen daughter.

For the past year and a half, Freeman has marched around the courthouse on the days of hearings, birthdays and anniversaries, demanding justice and asking the community to not forget what happened on Sept. 1, 2013.

During the trial of Daniel Uvalle, both Freeman and Terry Duarte sat in the hall outside the courtroom, waiting for news from their weeping loved ones inside. Both had been subpoenaed for victim impact statements, and because they were subpoenaed, the defense attorney requested that they not be allowed inside.

The mothers took the news hard, both feeling robbed of the right to know what had happened to their children after a year and a half of waiting for the trial to begin. 

“I think my rights should have been superceded by his (Uvalle’s),” Freeman said. “That should have been my choice. I feel very cheated with that.”

Despite not be able to view the trial, both mothers expressed gratitude to District Attorney Allison Palmer and all the others that worked on the case.

"I would like to thank all the jury, San Angelo police, the detectives, the witnesses who testified, the family and friends for their support, and special thanks to the DA, Allison Palmer, (Victims Services Director) Jackie Hall and their assistants," Terry Duarte said.