The city of Pueblo, as poet Carl Sandberg once said of Chicago, is also a city with big shoulders. But while best known for a steel mill that pumped mightily for decades, Pueblo is also a town with a big, a very big heart.
It proved it once again on Monday when an empty hearse left the County Coroner’s office and drove to the city’s historic county courthouse for a solemn memorial honoring children who were victims of violence.
While all children, said interim County Coroner Dr. Greg Grahek, should be remembered, it was the deaths of two, in particular, that inspired the public memorial.
The children, five-year-old Jesus Dominguez and his three-year-sister, Yesenia, were murdered by their mother in 2018. Corena Minjarez was convicted of the crimes last August and sentenced to life in prison. Her partner, Jesus Dominguez, was convicted of second-degree murder in September. Dominguez lesser charge, said the DA, was in exchange for testimony against the children’s mother.
Family members initially called police, telling them they were concerned for the children because they had not seen them since early summer 2018.
Police immediately began an investigation. Then, last January, investigators found Yesenia’s body encased in cement and in a storage unit where the couple had been staying. The little boy’s remains were found stuffed inside a suitcase in the trunk of the couple’s car that was located at a local scrapyard.
The tragedy of the story, said Pueblo Police Captain Chris Flores, shocked the community. It also, he said, had an impact on the cops who routinely investigate violent crime. It hit a nerve. “It’s not part of the investigation,” he said. “It’s just part of being human.”
City officials initially proposed a public procession from the city to Roselawn Cemetery but because so many people asked to be part of the memorial the plan was changed. Officials decided to honor not just the Dominguez children, but all children impacted by violence.
“It impacts us to our soul,” when a child dies this way, said Grahek. “But it also involves law enforcement and families,” including families who may never have known the young victims.
In addition to the police and coroner’s office, the memorial was attended by the Sheriff’s Department, Pueblo Fire Department and District Attorney’s office.
The impact of these children’s deaths and the depravity of the adults responsible for inflicting so much violence into two short and innocent lives as well as the lives of all children who are victims of violence touches not just families suffering the loss, but ripples across an entire city.
“I think it makes people realize that you have to come together as a community. We’re all susceptible to these kinds of things. It’s the hurt that brings people closer together.
“(It’s) to give the children last respects,” Flores said. “There was so much pain that this case caused. This was just something that gives a last respectful ride for these children. They’re now where they can ultimately rest.”
