‘He was a life, not just a name’

Devastated family struggles to understand how Paco Flores, their beloved son, brother and father, ended up beaten to death behind a pool hall
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Obed Flores, 22, will never again see his young son, who’s not yet 2.
His mother — Maria Fuentes, to whom he regularly sent money — just wants to see her youngest child one last time, even if it is at his funeral.
Flores, the man everybody called Paco, will never see the parcel of land he bought in his native Honduras.

The land he bought to build a home. The land he bought to support his mother, who lost her husband just six months ago.
The land he bought to care for his son and the baby’s mother.

The land he bought and more he planned to buy to build rental homes for the people of his country.
Paco’s future was taken away from him early Wednesday when he was brutally killed behind a shopping center in Bonita Springs.
“He was a life, not just a name,” Paco’s brother, Walter David Flores, said Saturday, speaking through a translator.

With no more future, all that’s left of Paco is memories carried on by family, friends, co-workers and employers. They remember his shy but friendly demeanor, that he could fix anything, that he would help anybody. He loved to listen to music — reggae and the group “Los Teminararios” were his favorites — and he loved to play pool.

He would help his sister cook; his favorite dish was eggs and beans because it was easy to make.
“The person who killed him has no idea how hard of a blow they’ve given our family,” said his sister, Karla Flores. “They took away his beautiful smile.

”
‘He was a life, not just a name’
Members of the Flores family are in Bonita Springs trying to arrange one last journey for Paco. His mother, who they say “lost part of her soul” with her son’s death, wants him laid to rest near her in Honduras.
To raise the $6,000 to ship Paco home and bury him, the AmericInn Lodge and Suites, where he worked in Bonita Springs as a maintenance engineer, has set up a memorial fund.

Any TIB Bank location in Southwest Florida will accept donations. Checks should be made payable to the Obed Flores Memorial Fund.
“This was a hate crime from somebody who thinks Latino people just don’t belong in this country,” said Jacob Arabie, AmericInn general manager.

“(Paco) was an outstanding guy; it blows our mind how something like this could happen.”
In the nine years housekeeping supervisor Arucena Gutierrez has worked for AmericInn, she said, she had never met anybody so universally liked by the people he encountered.
“Nobody ever came here to work that got along with everybody so well and worked so hard as Paco did,” Gutierrez said.

Paco, one of six siblings spread across the United States and Honduras, came to America on Aug. 26, 2005, to live near his sister, Karla, in South Carolina. He worked there on the kitchen staff for a golf and country club.

“He came here illegally, but that doesn’t mean somebody should have killed him,” his sister said.
His goal was to raise money for his mother and to buy the land in Honduras to build a home and care for his son, his family said.
“He came here to work to liberate himself from poorness,” Walter David Flores said.

Six months ago, Paco moved to Bonita Springs after a cousin told him he could get a better job here. Karla tried to convince him to come back to South Carolina, but he liked Southwest Florida.
“He didn’t want to leave because he said it was beautiful here and he had a good job,” Karla said.

Paco liked to relax by playing pool. When he lived in South Carolina, he often would come over to Karla’s house and play pool with her and her husband, Juan Zavala.
A few hours before he was killed, he phoned Karla to say he found a place in Bonita Springs where he could play pool.

“He was so happy that he found someplace to play,” Karla said. “I said, ‘I’m happy for you that you found someplace to have fun,’ and now look what happened to him.”
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Paco and two other men were at Warehouse Billiards in the Center of Bonita Springs when they went outside early Wednesday to smoke marijuana.

According to sheriff’s reports, Paco grabbed one of the men’s genitals, and that man beat him to the point Paco was either unconscious or unresponsive. The man then sexually assaulted him, according to investigators.
The two men then went back inside, finished drinking and paid their bar tab.

The man who originally beat and sexually assaulted Paco then went back outside and beat Paco to death with a shovel, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“They didn’t just kill a person,” Walter David Flores said. “They treated him like a dog.

”
Richard C. Elkins, 18 of Cape Coral, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault. Elkins’ mother told the Daily News on Friday that her son had confessed to the crime, although the Sheriff’s Office wouldn’t confirm that.

Christopher W. Maner, 24 of Naples, also has been arrested in the case and charged with being an accessory after the fact. The Sheriff’s Office said he took Paco’s cell phone and wallet, then tried to hide some items of Paco’s clothing and the weapon used in the killing.

“Let justice be done,” Karla Flores said. “Nothing is going to bring (Paco) back, but the law should speak for us.”
Walter David wonders why his brother, who could legally drink in a bar, was in that situation with somebody who was drinking while underage.

The bar should be held responsible for that, Walter David Flores said.
“The laws are there for a reason,” he said.
The family is putting their faith in God to make sure all the wrongs are made right.

None of his friends, family members or co-workers ever saw Paco take drugs, they said, so they don’t know why he was behind Warehouse Billiards on Wednesday. He didn’t speak English very well, and they feel his accused killer may have taken advantage of that.
“Nowhere that Paco went did he leave an enemy,” his brother said.

Since she arrived in Bonita Springs from South Carolina after her brother’s death, Karla has been carrying pictures of her departed baby brother. There, in the images in her hand, is where Paco will remain.
The timid kid who could disarm anyone with his grin.

The guy who could fix anything just by looking at it.
“He never looked for problems with anybody, and it is just not right the way they ripped his life away from us,” Karla said.
His past, the pictures, the memories and a shy smile captured in photos are all that’s left of him.

The friends and family of Obed Flores are trying to raise $6,000 for him to be buried in his native Honduras. To donate, visit any TIB Bank location. Checks should be made payable to the Obed Flores Memorial Fund.

This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below responsibility lies with the relevant reader alone. .
Posted by ( ) at 4:58 a.

m. on March 4, 2007 ( )
If the laws are there for a reason why wasn't Paco deported?
Same old story as overweight woman.

ALWAYS BLAME SOMEONE ELSE.

9 of 12 people found this comment useful.
Posted by ( ) at 7:34 a.

m. on March 4, 2007 ( )
His death should never have happened. It is a very sad thing.

But there were at least three choices HE made that brought this about. 1) entering the U.S.

illegally 2) smoking pot, also against the law. 3)sexually assaulting another person, also against the law.
Impulsive, careless, illegal actions often do have consequences.

We pass laws to protect all people. Follow the law and you are likely to live longer--and better.
I think the newspaper writer spent way too much time and effort to wallow readers in gooey pathos, sloppy, foggy thinking, instead of focusing on relevant facts.

9 of 16 people found this comment useful.
Posted by ( ) at 7:55 a.m.

on March 4, 2007 ( )
All you do-gooders need to step up financially and send your friend back to Honduras.
He was killed and the killers should be proscecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
He was here illegally.

He was illegally smoking marijuana. He was employed by the fleabag motel illegally. Where is the good in this picture?

If any one is a redneck it is twins who obviously has a problem with LEGAL residents from Ohio but supports bisexual, drug abusing, illegal aliens from Honduras
This was not an outstanding citizen the article is trying to portray him to be.

9 of 17 people found this comment useful.
Posted by ( ) at 8:15 a.

m. on March 4, 2007 ( )
Hey TURFKING?
How many illigal aliens make you money,and by the way did you know this man?

Or do just believe he desirves to die..Sir you were not there,How do you know he smoked pot?

.How do you know he grabed this guys groin.you don't.

. do you?and the last time i check if you're born in Ohio that makes you an american citizen.

..
TURFKING.

..Yea I bet you have never have hired and illegal alien.

.OPEN YOUR EYES..

..there all around you I hear they come to this country because AMERICAN give them work.

...

.And by the way check the meaning of REDNECK I think you might be one..

Posted by ( ) at 8:52 a.m. on March 4, 2007 ( )
I work in Finance so I do not hire illegal aliens.

I'm sorry that this fellow was killed but the fact is he was not supposed to be here anyway.
The story stated he was smoking pot and croth-grabbing not me. Look at your original post and see that you were the one who blasted people from Ohio.

Your aimless, moronic ramblings are hard to follow for everyone (including yourself).
I agree that illegal aliens are everwhere as you stated; that is a big problem. The State of Florida needs to start proscecuting the employers who hire undocumented workers and the problem will solve itself.

Come here legally as my relatives did and I will work with you not againist you.
Though I moved to Florida in 1977 I did grow up in a small farming community and would be proud to be called a redneck. Even by an uneducated moron like you Twins.

Name
Place
7 + 3 =
Comments

Forbidden

‘He was a life, not just a name’

Forbidden

Search