DENVER — A mother needs help granting her son's wish to return to Guatemala after he was murdered.
Orvelina Gonzalez wants to lay her son to rest in Guatemala, his home country.
Wayli Alvarado-Gonzalez, 15, was fatally stabbed outside a 7-Eleven gas station near West Jewell Avenue and South Sheridan Boulevard early on New Year's Day. Police found his body around 3 a.m. while responding to an assault.
Tears streamed down Gonzalez's face as she remembered her son. She says she can't shake the pain of his death and keeps waiting for her son to come back home.
Wayli was Gonzalez's first son. He was born in Guatemala. Gonzalez moved to the U.S., and she left him with a family member when he was 2 years old. She says she wanted to work and provide him with a brighter future, but Wayli got desperate and migrated to the U.S. in 2018. Gonzalez's said he was held in an ICE facility for about a month in Texas before they were reunited in Denver last January. They were reunited for one year after 12 years apart.
Gonzalez remembers her son telling her on News Year's Eve he was going out with friends to the local park. She said it was normal, but when he didn't answer his phone after several calls, she got worried.
A call from her son's friend sent Gonzalez rushing to the 7-Eleven gas station two miles from her home. It's where she says a detective told her that her son was killed.
Wayli told his mother he wanted to be a soldier some day and go back home to visit his grandmother in Guatemala.
Gonzalez has started a GoFundMe to help raise money to bury her son in Guatemala.
