Family remembers mother and two sons killed in arson attack in Stockton

STOCKTON, Calif. – As the manhunt for a suspected triple murderer continues in Stockton, a family is mourning, raising funds and demanding justice.

Guillermo Gutierrez spoke in Spanish and fought through tears, inconsolable and begging for justice.

“Someone must know where he is,” Guillermo said. “But they don’t want to say.”

Guillermo is talking about 59-year-old Jose Carmona, who goes by nearly seven aliases but who Guillermo knows as the man who allegedly killed his 33-year-old daughter, Lizbeth Josefina Gutierrez, and two of her young sons on Tuesday morning.

“They came here in February or March,” Guillermo said.

He says Lizbeth and Carmona were in a relationship for several years and moved to Stockton from Texas just months ago.

Guillermo, Lizbeth and their three children lived together in a mobile home on Visalia Court near Harbor Street. Guillermo had just left for work early Tuesday morning when the unimaginable happened, he said.

According to the police report, Carmona set fire to the family’s RV around 6:30 a.m. while Lizbeth and the boys were sleeping inside. Only one of the boys, the oldest, was able to exit the RV safely.

Days after the tragedy, there are no memorials in the neighborhood where it occurred because many of the victims’ relatives live in Mexico. Many of them are afraid to speak publicly about it because the suspected killer is still on the run.

In a written statement originally written in Spanish, Jazmin Sandoval, a cousin of Lizbeth, said that while the family is grieving and trying to raise funds to return the victims’ bodies to Mexico, they are also demanding justice.

“My cousin was a very noble person. She did not like quarrels and never argued. She was only devoted to her children and was very playful,” the statement said. “The family wants justice. We are devastated. Sometimes we think it is a bad dream, we cannot believe so much evil. We are very sad and devastated.”

Neighbors, police and the victim’s family hope that the perpetrator will be caught soon. The police are asking anyone who sees Carmona to call 911 and not to approach him. The suspected murderer is considered dangerous.

“I hope they catch him as soon as possible,” said neighbor Allison Paxton. “It’s heartbreaking. The thought that someone would do something like this on purpose makes me sick.”

See more from ABC10: Police in Stockton are searching for a man who allegedly set a mobile home on fire and killed three people