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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.