November 22, 2009
What's Inside:
Many Hispanics worry after alleged murder plot
Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo
Yesenia Torres says she was good friends with Antonio Jose Maravilla-Vargas, whose body was found dumped on an Andrew County gravel road last weekend.
Unwanted interest in Hispanics, brought on by an alleged contract killing, has jarred a minority population trying to assimilate in St. Joseph.
The consensus among many Hispanics has been to reserve judgment until the full facts of the alleged murder-for-hire plot become known. For now, they want to help the victim’s father get the body back to Mexico as police draw down their investigation, with charges against four men this past week.
Some Hispanic residents say they remain bewildered that a well-regarded businessman in the community could apparently orchestrate a hit on such a well-liked young man. Police and prosecutors say Antonio Onate, 44, paid $2,000 to have Antonio Jose Maravilla-Vargas, 23, killed.
Mr. Maravilla-Vargas’ body was dumped in rural Andrew County on May 2. It is the first homicide associated with the St. Joseph area in 2009.
Faustino Barbosa, a lifelong St. Joseph resident, said the sense of shock among Hispanics is strong. He said the disbelief is felt at St. Patrick’s Church, where the suspect and victim were parishioners, taking part in the Spanish Mass.
“I think a lot of people maybe don’t want to believe it. I still can’t believe it,” Mr. Barbosa said.
While the homicide continues to make ample discussion at Hispanic-owned restaurants and grocery stores, others this week worry about its immediate implication. St. Joseph, which the U.S. Census Bureau said has one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in the country, is going through ethnic growing pains.
Some non-Hispanics who knew the victim worry that too much has already been made of his Mexican ethnicity and legal status.
“Illegal or not illegal, people are people. Nobody deserves to be treated the way he was,” Jenifer Mason said Friday afternoon as she organized donation jars to help with funeral costs. “The flak they take already. The looks, the comments, the noises under their breaths from people.”
“People steer clear of what’s different to them,” said Beth Burnette. “He was just here for work. He wasn’t here for this drama.”
Mr. Maravilla-Vargas’ employer, La Palma Tienda Mexicana, where he worked as a cashier, says he had proper documents.
Others defend Mr. Onate as a good family man who they believe was incapable of ordering a murder. Still others think something must have compelled him.
In 1993, Mr. Onate and his brother opened La Mesa Mexican Restaurant.
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it, but you never know,” said Lizeth, a former La Mesa employee who declined to give her last name. “There has to be a really bad, really bad reason for him to have done it.”
According to friends of Mr. Maravilla-Vargas, there were rumors of a relationship between the 23-year-old guitarist and Mr. Onate’s wife, Maria. The two performed in St. Patrick’s choir.
Romantic rumors had circulated for nearly a year but were unproven, said those familiar with the choir.
Yesenia Torres, 21, knows the power of such rumors. There were “rumors” she and Mr. Maravilla-Vargas dated, although she says they were only close friends.
Through an interpreter, Ms. Torres says she believes her friend might have been killed because someone became envious of him. “They may get jealous because he’s younger and he got a good position in the church,” Ms. Torres said.
Mr. Maravilla-Vargas worked construction with his father when he arrived in St. Joseph three years ago, but got a cashier’s job at the ethnic grocery store six months ago, when construction work had slowed.
This Friday, his father, Eugenio, will escort the body to their hometown of Pueblo, Mexico. He wants his wife to hold their son’s hand one last time.
“Now that this has happened, there is nothing else to do at this point,” Mr. Maravilla, a burly construction worker, said, speaking through an interpreter. “I need to gather strength from anywhere so I can go through with this.”
Donations to help send the body home can be made to Nodaway Valley Bank, 6304 King Hill Ave., St. Joseph, MO 64504. Make checks payable to the Memorial Fund for Antonio Maravilla-Vargas, Account No. 1238834.
Ahmad Safi can be reached
at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.
This story has 24 comments. Click here to join in on the discussion.
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Ohhhhhhhhhhh well
God Bless the family for whats happened to them....They are in my thoughts and prayers..No matter what the situation was or what race they were no one deserved to be murdered..That was cruel and may justice be served to all that was involved..
Here's how we can help the family:
If you are a business, please visit http://StJoeUnited.webs.com/
If you are a consumer, please visit the website on how you can help. On May 16, businesses are asked to donate a percentage of sales or profits to help the family.
Together, we can do this.
E-mail: StJoeUnited@gmail.com
It does matter if a person is illegally in this country or not. If he was illegally here he was a criminal. Now he does not deserve to be miss treated or killed. But living outside the law usually results in problems. If a person is flirting and being cozy with another persons spouse this too will lead to problems. A pattern seems to exist, illegal resident, flirtation with other persons spouse , young outgoing etc. results never good.
So 77cod, "living outside the law usually results in problems"......then maybe we should do more to speeders on highway 71 or I-29? Aren't they living "outside the law?"
Legal or illegal is not important in regard to the final outcome.....the value of a human life is what is important. Regardless of the issue/issues involved, people must be able to resolve issues without violence.
i am constantly amazed at the capacity of the human spirit. 77cod, so, it is okay to put out a contract on someone because they may or may not have had an affair with your spouse? why are you all assuming that this beautiful young man was illegal? does it matter one whit...... murdered on a lonely road, left and perhaps never to be found?
TRUST ME. if this man was illegal the damn ICE will be all over his father, throwing him in jail so he can't even take his son home. i know this.
soldier.... already sent you an email and joined the board. thank you for standing up, and for every one who remains silent but supportive.
god rest this young man and strength to his family.
I cannot speak of who is guilty or who is not, but I have lived in St. Joe for only three years but i can tell you that from day one all I have heard from a large part of the Saint Joe white population is --"The mexicans this the mexicans that and it goes on and on. I think the Mexicans have been blamed for crime, hurricans and most anything bad that happens. Mexican Americans will never hear this talk because they won't say it to there faces they only do this behind there backs. My last name is Reuther and i look white but actually im not german at all its an adopted name. My real family name is "NUNEZ" and im Islano (from the Canary Islands) so they don't know they are talking to a man from a spanish heritage. So i get to hear things that Mexicans never hear and I hear a lot and its not good. These words, inuendos and ugly comments come from all over Saint Joseph and especially from my "Good church going friends". Are these words creating an arena of "Hate" that can breed hatred and maybe even murder?
Preston Reuther
www.cameojewelry.com
hi preston!!!!! its sarah. how is the building coming?
This is a very touchy subject for all. I do not have a problem if the hispanics want to come here to better their life. However I do have a problem when we are expected to learn THEIR language in OUR country. They want to move here, they should be expected to learn OUR language. I also have a problem with them moving here and popping out 10 kids in which they cannot support on their income. That is what really makes me angry!!!
I've lived here all my life and if one is objective it's hard not to notice many spanish names in the paper and on the news for violent crimes and drug related crimes. This wasn't the case even 10 years ago at least not to the degree I notice now. I question the use of the word 'assimilate' in this article. It has been my experience that most of these immigrants are here to earn money, send it to their home country, and then return to live off their earnings back home. They differ from the immigrants way back when. The "melting pot' immigrants had true excitement and patriotism to come to America. They learned our language, fought for our country, and proudly displayed our flag. They strived to adopt the culture of this country. This was a horrible crime and a terrible waste of a young life but not a hate crime. Illegal is illegal anyway you look at it whether you agree with it or not it is still the LAW.
blah, do you personally know an hispanic who has " popped out TEN KIDS..." or are you using hyperbole to make your silly point? who is forcing you to learn castellano?
taxed out. fyi, according to police statistics, the majority of violent crime in stjo is committed by white men. your slanted viewpoint is probably causing you to concentrate on the latino sounding names. no one has called this a hate crime, but the comments made by some about this man's death are indeed hateful.
I can't believe some of the comments. I can't put on here what I really thought, but the man has been murdered. Doesn't matter what his race is or if he was here legally or illegaly, he was MURDERED!. All everyone want's to comment on is whether he is a citizen or not. Who cares. Murder is murder and that is that.
Still can't believe how racist and backward St Joe really is.
Want to help? quit renting to and hiring illegals. what about the MS13 tattoo'd on the supects neck. in that gang you get promoted for killing a police officer. you that defend illegal immigration; were you aware of that? if you get a group of people that are not afraid of our law enforcement what chance do you think you have. no not all are bad but you have to take the bad w/ the good or not. let me ask you this very simple question, do you expect me to follow our laws?
This comment was removed by the site staff.
chiquitico99 May 10, 2009 at 3:33 p.m.This comment was removed by the site staff.
chiquitico99 May 10, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.This comment was removed by the site staff.
heritage_sarahhochschwender May 10, 2009 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)chiquitico....... you are a first time poster. the rules above now stae that all capitals posts will be deleted. MODS....... please take this first timer's posts and correct the caps or leave them here????? his words have value.
Thats where you think that people are stupid enough to let you change the subject to racism becuase you can't really defend breaking our laws. and for you chicotaco if you are calling me out i smile. maybe you should believe some of what they say about red necks. so this is where it all begins. you see people, now you can read it. chicotaco calling americans out. let me guess you think your resteraunts are your territory. that is american soil.
Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!
L.O.L Border patrol i wish you a good day and hope you grow up soon, it's 2009 man look arround racism is overrated. let this poor guy R.I.P. and i claim no territory but I'll be glad to pay you a visit if you gime me your address so it would be your American territory, and im not calling americans out... Im calling scared racist shadows to come out of their closet and do something.
Rednecks are good people that's what my friends are but like us Mexicans we have this bad apples meessing it up for everyone like you "Border Patrol"
By the way i became a U.S. citizen probably before you were born.
Maturity Bro! Get you some!
This comment was removed by the site staff.
borderpatrol May 10, 2009 at 6:42 p.m.This comment was removed by the site staff.
megafrog May 10, 2009 at 8:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)People of hispanic heritage should not worry about being here in the United States, as long as they are here legally. People of every race or religion should be welcomed to the States. In this day and age (as well as when my relatives came over from Prussia), there are laws that regulate people coming to America. The laws should be respected and obeyed.
Now to talk about the crime. This is a very sad crime. I feel bad for the family of the young man who had his life snuffed out so senselessly. This should not have happened and the perpetrators should be punished accordingly.
People should not form biases or prejudices against hispanics due to this crime though. Knock off the stereotypes as not all hispanics are illegals or criminals. My daughter is engaged to a hispanic gentleman and he is very respectful. I have a Mexican brother in law. He is now a US Citizen and joined the Army after 9/11. I attend Church with people of hispanic descent. No one will convince me that hispanics are bad people but like any nationality, race or ethnic group, there are some bad apples.