Family of BG boy say their hearts, home are empty without him

As Battle Ground resident Fernando Cisneros-Garcia, grandfather of 3-year-old Jose “Pepe” Castillo-Cisneros, tries to express the pain his family is experiencing after the loss of “little Pepito,” it’s hard for him to find the right words.

“Our life right now is very, very bad, very sad,” Cisneros-Garcia said. “Our lives are totally destroyed. Our house was totally full of joy with the baby, and now our house is totally empty. Our hearts are totally empty. There is no little angel for me anymore. Pepito, for me, he was my little boy, my little angel. I will miss Pepito forever.”

The night of May 23, Battle Ground Police arrested 39-year-old Ricardo Gutierrez after he allegedly beat and stabbed Pepe, who later died of his injuries at a local hospital. 

According to a crowdfunding website set up by Pepe’s aunt, Brenda Cisneros Al Faraj, Pepe was autistic.

Cisneros-Garcia said he and other family members had no idea that Gutierrez had a violent criminal history.

“The guy (Gutierrez), he really always seemed nice,” Cisneros-Garcia said. “Sometimes we knew he was not really happy with Pepito. Pepito was a special kid, and he (Gutierrez) had been stressed for that reason. Many times he was fighting with my daughter about Pepito, telling her to ‘discipline the little boy.’ But we never thought something like this would happen. No one knew about his crime history. But now the crime has happened and he destroyed our lives. He destroyed his life, his parents’ lives.”

Neighbors in disbelief, shock

Candy Harrison, who has a son and grandchildren who live just a few doors away from the Cisneros’ home where the crime took place, said she was shocked and heartbroken that night when her son called her and told her what had happened.

“My son called me the night this all happened. He was talking really quiet and said, ‘oh my God, mom, I think he killed the kid,’” Harrison said. “I was like, ‘what?’ So, he proceeded to tell me what he saw going on. I’m just sitting there in shock. I’m over there a lot. He’s got two of my precious six (grandchildren). So, I’m sitting there trying to process this and he calls me back and tells me, ‘the boyfriend killed the baby.’ He said it was ugly and I’m going to leave it at that.”

Harrison said she barely slept at all that night and stayed up most of the night watching the news on TV. The next day, she drove to her son’s house and had him walk with her over to the Cisneros’ house so she could place some flowers outside. She noticed someone had already left a potted plant there, and she began to think about what else she could do to help the Cisneros family in their time of need.

Candlelight vigil and community support

As Harrison continued to think and reach out to other community members about what could be done for the Cisneros family, she and several other community members came up with the idea of holding a candlelight vigil for Pepe. The memorial was held Friday evening outside the Cisneros’ home on the 1600 block of Southwest Sixth Street. About 250 community members attended the vigil to show their support for Pepe's family.

In addition to the candlelight vigil, community members have been collecting donations of money and moving supplies for the family, since they do not want to continue living in that house. 

“The outpouring of support from the community has just been the most wonderful thing ever,” Harrison said. “This family needs to know how much this community has been rocked by this tragedy and that we are there for them. That’s what this is all about. That’s why I asked the question in the first place; What can we do as a community to come together to help this family?”

An account has been set up at Wells Fargo bank where people can make donations to the family under the name “Justice for Pepe.” Also, a family who lives in the same neighborhood as the Cisneros has designed T-shirts with Pepe’s photo on them that read “Justice for Pepe.” They will be selling the T-shirts for $15 each, $5 of which will go directly to Pepe’s family. The remaining funds will cover the cost of making the shirts. People interested in ordering the shirts can contact Jessica Floriano at jessica.l.floriano@gmail.com or message her on Facebook. 

Other community members will hold a carwash on Saturday, June 4, 9 a.m., at Battle Ground Produce. All proceeds from the car wash will go to Pepe’s family.

A GoFundMe account was also set up to help Pepe’s family with funeral expenses. Those wishing to donate can do so here https://www.gofundme.com/25uqnuc.

“We are really grateful to the whole community,” Cisneros-Garcia said. “They show a lot of love and support to us. I don’t have words to say thank you to the whole community. Everybody is amazing and everybody is trying to help. I want to say thank you very much for everything they are doing for us. Especially the support of my daughter and for the babies.”

Account of what happened

According to court documents, officers from the Battle Ground Police Department were dispatched to a home on the 1600 block of Southwest Sixth Street for a report of abuse of a juvenile. According to the probable cause affidavit, Pepe’s 9-year-old sister called 911 and reported that her father, identified as Gutierrez, was hitting her 3-year-old brother. She said that Gutierrez and her mother, Yadira Cisneros, were upstairs fighting “over the brother.”

According to court documents, 911 dispatchers heard what sounded like, “He is killing me.” The 9-year-old sister reported that Pepe was in a “big puddle of blood and was not breathing.”

Officers arrived at the scene at about 7:53 p.m. and heard screaming inside the residence, according to the probable cause affidavit. Officers forced their way into the home, detained Gutierrez and began performing CPR on Pepe. Officers described Pepe as “possibly being deceased and a large amount of blood coming from Pepe’s head.” He was transported to the hospital where he later died.

Pepe was reported to have several contusions to his face and head. Police observed an injury on the boy’s head consistent with a knife wound, and also indicated that Pepe had numerous bruises on his face and right arm.

The mother’s sister, Brenda Cisneros Al Faraj, was able to translate from Spanish to English some of what Yadira Cisneros had told her regarding the incident. 

According to court documents, Cisneros told Brenda that Pepe and his sister had taken a bath and were upstairs. She said she was downstairs washing dishes when she heard the children crying upstairs and rushed up there. Cisneros said she went into the bedroom and saw Gutierrez throw Pepe up against the wall. There was a large hole in the drywall about the size of a small child’s head, according to court documents.

Cisneros said she fought with Gutierrez to keep him from hurting Pepe. She told Brenda that Gutierrez was trying to choke Pepe and that she told him, “you’re killing him.” Cisneros said that Gutierrez said he was going to kill Pepe and her. She later showed detectives several injuries to her arm, leg and neck, and possibly broke her arm during the struggle, according to court documents.

Cisneros told Brenda that she put her 1-month-old son on top of Pepe to keep Gutierrez from assaulting him further. She said this didn’t work and that Gutierrez finally stopped when Pepe appeared to stop breathing.

According to the probable cause affidavit, detectives spoke with Pepe’s 9-year-old sister, who said she and Pepe were upstairs watching a movie. She told detectives Pepe was crying because he didn’t want to watch the movie. Pepe went into Gutierrez’ bedroom and opened the door. Pepe’s sister told detectives Gutierrez was mad because Pepe was crying and that he was trying to pull Pepe into the room.

Pepe’s sister said Cisneros heard Pepe crying and came upstairs and that Cisneros was screaming at Gutierrez and told her to call 9-1-1. Pepe’s sister told detectives she saw blood in the bathroom and a hole in the wall in Gutierrez’ room. She also told detectives that Cisneros “knew she needed to get upstairs because she knew that Gutierrez hated Pepe.”

Detectives interviewed Gutierrez, who said he didn’t remember assaulting Pepe, according to the probable cause affidavit. He told detectives that the family had gone to dinner earlier in the evening and the next thing he remembered was that he was being handcuffed. Gutierrez said he has blacked out in the past when he was very angry. Detectives observed Gutierrez had several injuries to his hands and suspected he had a broken right hand. They also observed red-colored stains consistent with blood on Gutierrez’ clothing.

According to the probable cause affidavit, initial responding officers observed several fresh suspected blood stains on Gutierrez’ bedroom walls and in the bathroom. Officers observed holes in the wall in his bedroom; one of the holes was about the size of a child’s heard. Officers also observed a broken steak knife in Gutierrez’ bedroom; the blade of the knife was found in the bathroom sink.

Gutierrez was booked into Clark County Jail for first-degree murder. He made his first court appearance this morning in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree murder. Judge Daniel Stahnke set his bail at $1.5 million. 

According to court documents, Gutierrez has a criminal history that dates back to the 1990s, which includes assault convictions. He was previously convicted of second-degree assault in Jackson County, Oregon, and is currently on parole. 

Gutierrez is set to be arraigned on June 3. The Battle Ground Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit will continue to investigate this incident.