Family Found Shot-Oct. 2006 PORT ST. LUCIE FL (SOLVED/CONVICTIONS!!)

[LouiseVargas]

My gut level feelings tell me the husband and wife were not drug users. However, the husband and wife were involved in a high level of selling drugs. She knew about it but the husband did the selling. A happy family with children is a good cover for selling drugs. It was for the purpose of making enough money to get ahead. They had a good car and they lived in a gated community at Forest Hill Boulevard and Jog Road.  Living in a gated community is expensive.

Perhaps the husband said he didn't want to participate any further because they had made as much money as they needed as it was a means to a particular end (a better life) but the drug dealers could not release them because they knew too much and thus killed them.  Once involved, always involved.

From Sharon's article, it's freaky that "The family members died of multiple gunshots, according to autopsy results released Tuesday. Sheriff's investigators declined to reveal other details of the autopsy, such as how many guns were used." AND "Veteran crime profilers and forensic experts theorize from the location of the shootings that Friday's unsolved homicides in Port St. Lucie weren't just about killing the family. This was meant to send a message."

This is the first I heard about multiple gunshot wounds ... that means there was more than one person in the car with the family.  I wonder what the family was thinking and whether this was a routine "run" or not.  I hope the family didn't know what was in for them and that they were not scared.  From seeing movies, usually the Mafioso don't let the persons know they are about to be killed, which is somewhat merciful.

I do believe they were involved with high level drug lords.

[Carnut]

Kind of the chances one takes when a family is working to be the next Kennedy clan.

[LouiseVargas]

George, can you explain that last one? What does this have to do with the Kennedy clan?  

Mrs. Red, since the drug lords were sending a message, killing the children was part of the message. I really intuit the wife knew and the husband didn't have a secret life as evidenced by their calm demeanor on having more than one stranger in the car with them. The wife did not try to jump out with the kids. If I were sure that my kids and myself were about to be executed, I would have tried something like at least throwing the kids out of the car. It seems everything was normal until they were told to pull off the road. I think the husband suddenly understood what was happening and tried to run, thus he got shot in the back. The wife and children were ordered out and thus she knew what was coming next and tried to shield the children.

Unfortunately, the family made a mistake in calculating their risks compared to the rewards. And they didn't realize they could never just "stop" when they wanted to.

[Carnut]

Louise, it was my understanding that P.J. Kennedy (JFK's Grandfather) made his money running boose during prohibition, which then provided the funds for his son Joe Kennedy (JFK's Dad) to make a fortune in the stock market and possibly elsewhere.

I kinda consider todays drug trade to be the equivalent of the booze trade during prohibition.

P.J. Kennedy Bio

[LouiseVargas]

George, you have a point. Recent immigrants such as this family do resort to taking risks to make the money they need to survive. I'm just so sorry this family got in over their heads and couldn't escape to enjoy their money and new life.

My very own grandfather, Samuel Sadowsky from Russia (where he came from a rich family that made bridles for the Tzar's horses), and his brothers ran bootleg booze in 1904 along the east coast in order to make the money to send for their wives and children left behind in Russia. Even after my grandmother arrived with two children and had two more in Brooklyn, grandpa and his brothers still ran booze. My aunt Betty, the youngest, was a writer and wrote a story about the stress they endured one night while they waited for Pa to come home. They were worried and grandma was holding her head in her hands until finally Pa arrived home safely.

With that money, grandpa bought an apartment building and tasked my mother (the oldest of four girls) to collect the rents from the deadbeats who were always late. Later he torched the building and collected the insurance and he was even richer.

The depression hit and my mother stood in line at the bank to get Pa's money. Grandpa and Grandma were getting old and moved to CA, to a small town east of Pasadena called Sierra Madre. The air eased Grandma's asthma.

I've strayed off topic only to illustrate that immigrants can be desperate. They have escaped poverty and oppression but they don't speak English and have to find work. Almost any kind of work. As you said, George, this is how JFK's grandpa made the money for his susbsequent dynasty.

[sharon]

This is the only update I've been able to find today. No 'new' news.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15793108.htm

Posted on Thu, Oct. 19, 2006

CRIME

Funerals for slain family to be MondayAssociated Press
Funeral services for a family of four shot to death along Florida's Turnpike have been scheduled for Monday in Brownsville, Texas.

Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, was found Friday in a grassy area in Port St. Lucie. His wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25, was discovered holding the couple's sons, Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3, apparently trying to protect them.

A chapel service was set for 10 a.m. Monday at Funeraria Del Angel Buena Vista in Brownsville, where the family lived until recently. Visitation will be this weekend, and a Rosary service is planned for Sunday night.

Meanwhile, relatives said Wednesday they have heard few details from investigators.

''We're still scared,'' said Yessica Escobedo's aunt, Monica Moreno. ``We're needing answers.''

Authorities have said the family died of multiple gunshot wounds and appeared to be lying or kneeling when they were shot. The couple's vehicle was found abandoned 70 miles south of the murder scene, in West Palm Beach.

''I just want everyone to think about my nephews, my niece and her husband,'' Moreno said. ``Nobody in their right mind would do that.''

[Jacqueline]

Slain family buried in single graveBy LYNN BREZOSKY
The Associated Press

SCRIPPS TREASURE COAST (FLA.) NEWSPAPERS/JULIO CORTEZ VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mike Guerrero, center, closes his eyes during funeral services for his sister, Yessica Escobedo, and her husband and sons at Buena Vista Cemetery in Brownsville on Monday. The Escobedos were found fatally shot along the Florida Turnpike on Oct. 13.BROWNSVILLE -- A mariachi group played songs of mourning Monday as pallbearers brought the bodies of a family of four gunned down along the Florida Turnpike to a Brownsville cemetery.

About 200 mourners stood under an overcast sky as the caskets for 28-year-old Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife, 25-year-old Yessica Guerrero Escobedo and their two toddler boys were placed alongside one another.

Relatives sobbed and held one another as last rites were said and the caskets were lowered into a single grave. Some mourners wore white T-shirts printed with family photos and the words "In Memory of the Escobedo Family."

The bodies of the two adults and two children were found Oct. 13 in a grassy area off the highway in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Yessica was holding Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3, as though trying to protect them.

Authorities have said all four died of multiple gunshot wounds and appeared to be lying down or kneeling when they were shot. The couple's vehicle was found abandoned 70 miles to the south in West Palm Beach.

There have been no arrests, and a motive for the killings has not been revealed.

Brownsville police have been assisting Florida authorities but said Monday that they could not comment on the case.

The Palm Beach Post reported Saturday that police would watch the funeral in search of Jose Manuel Escobedo, the fugitive brother of Jose Luis. The paper said he was sentenced in 2003 to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, but he disappeared on his way to a work camp in Louisiana seven months ago.

A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston declined to comment on a possible connection between the brother's past and the killings.

Both parents graduated from high school in Brownsville, where they were sweethearts. They had moved to Florida four months ago.

[A's Fever]

Very intersting.  Good find, Jacqueline.  That would certainly explain why they got into the vehicle with the assailant.

[Jacqueline]

Very intersting.  Good find, Jacqueline.  That would certainly explain why they got into the vehicle with the assailant.

I think there is alot right now that they know, (police) that they are not saying...

[mrs. red]

Jacq... first, my sistah I have been missing you!  and thanks for the update!!

Now I wonder if they couldn't find the brother so they killed the other brother as a warning.... or something -

this is unbelievablely sad...

[Jacqueline]

Jacq... first, my sistah I have been missing you!  and thanks for the update!!

Now I wonder if they couldn't find the brother so they killed the other brother as a warning.... or something -

this is unbelievablely sad...

I know, I've been soooooo busy but i'm here, somewhere a bit every day still reading!

I thought that too, but why take out the wife and the kids...
I know one might say to leave no witnesses, but it takes a couple of real cold hearted people to kill the children.

The father may have been in trouble himself with a drug connection from what I have read....

I just hope they find the people who did this.

[Jacqueline]

Brother Sought In Turnpike Slaying Of 4

UPDATED: 5:49 pm EDT October 24, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The family of four found shot to death along the Florida Turnpike was laid to rest Monday in Brownsville, Texas , and police consider the father's brother a person of interest in the case.

Jose Luis Escobedo Jr., 28, his wife Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25, and their two sons Luis Damian Escobedo, 3, and Luis Julian Escobedo, 4, were found two weeks ago fatally shot on the turnpike in Port St. Lucie.

Investigators said they believe the family's Jeep had pulled to the side of the highway before someone else in the vehicle shot them and drove away sometime in the middle of the night.

The mother was found clutching her two sons in an apparent effort to protect them. The body of the father, who was to turn 29 that Saturday, was found nearby. The victims appeared to be lying down or kneeling when they were shot, Sheriff Ken J. Mascara said.

Investigators said that each member of the family died from more than one gunshot wound.

Authorities found the family's 1998 four-door black Jeep Cherokee a few days after the slayings in an industrial section of West Palm Beach, about 70 miles south of where the shootings occurred, Mascara said.

Andrew Brown, an employee of Brandon Shipping Service in West Palm Beach, told TV station WPBF that he found the vehicle hidden next to a row of bushes and called police.

Mascara described the killings as "the most gruesome" murder scene he and his colleagues have ever witnessed.

"It was not a murder-suicide," Mascara said. "It was murder."

"If anyone saw the car that brought the bodies to the turnpike shoulder or the people who may have done this, I am asking that people call 911 in St. Lucie County or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-TIPS (1-800-273-8477) to report their information," Mascara said.

Police said that along with another unnamed individual, they are searching for wanted fugitive Jose Manuel Escobedo, slain Jose Julian Escobedo's younger brother.

Investigators said that they believe the younger brother has connections to a Gulf Coast drug cartel, and according to police reports, three years ago he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling cocaine.
Texas prosecutors said Jose Manuel Escobedo was convicted in a conspiracy involving 19 defendants operating in the Houston, Texas, area, trafficking illegal drugs.

According to police, Jose Manuel Escobedo was released to a halfway house in Louisiana to complete his sentence when he disappeared.

The Escobedo family said they have not seen or heard from the younger brother, only that he had disappeared around the time his brother's family moved to Greenacres, Fla.

Police told WPBF that the day the family was murdered was also the same day as the younger brother's birthday.

Police said that the younger Escobedo is still on the run, and may currently be residing in Matamoros, Mexico.

Matamoros is across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Jacqueline]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15783386.htm

Murder of Family Is Message to Living, says Profiler...

[mrs. red]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15783386.htm

Murder of Family Is Message to Living, says Profiler...

So these guys could have not even been involved in dealing drugs and just paid the price for the brother... and people say drugs don't kill...

[Jacqueline]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15783386.htm

Murder of Family Is Message to Living, says Profiler...

So these guys could have not even been involved in dealing drugs and just paid the price for the brother... and people say drugs don't kill...

Very possible.

But alot of questions remain on to how the father of the family made his living.  When they moved from Tx they moved into a nice neighborhood in Florida, and when family interviewed about what line of work he was in, replies were very sketchy.

Some say he fixed up cars and sold them from his house, but neighbors say they never saw any evidence of that...

Truly a tragedy, and a mystery.

[mrs. red]

I have a close friend who's husband does that... he rents a bay at one of those quick lube kind of places because their neighborhood won't allow the cars in the driveway... and this couple lived in a gated community.. and my friend's husband makes a great living doing that btw....
 

to the point that i wish I knew how....


so many questions... it's so sad...

[Carnut]

I have a close friend who's husband does that... he rents a bay at one of those quick lube kind of places because their neighborhood won't allow the cars in the driveway... and this couple lived in a gated community.. and my friend's husband makes a great living doing that btw....
 

to the point that i wish I knew how....


so many questions... it's so sad...

And you believe that story?

[mrs. red]

I have a close friend who's husband does that... he rents a bay at one of those quick lube kind of places because their neighborhood won't allow the cars in the driveway... and this couple lived in a gated community.. and my friend's husband makes a great living doing that btw....
 

to the point that i wish I knew how....


so many questions... it's so sad...

And you believe that story?

huh?

[Carnut]

I have a close friend who's husband does that... he rents a bay at one of those quick lube kind of places because their neighborhood won't allow the cars in the driveway... and this couple lived in a gated community.. and my friend's husband makes a great living doing that btw....
 

to the point that i wish I knew how....


so many questions... it's so sad...

And you believe that story?

huh?

You believe your friends story about Hubby's source of income?

[Jacqueline]

Carnut why so skeptical?
There are plenty of neighborhoods that won't allow people to put cars up on blocks in their driveway and work on them...

My brother is a mechanic and he gets side work all time for extra income and his boss his nice enough to let him bring the cars in and use his bay...

I believe him.