‘This is a club we didn’t want to join.’ Families of murder victims meet in Merced

Dale and Jean Hoover, a husband and wife from Atwater, stood under one of the tallest trees in Merced’s Courthouse Park and tied a fabric butterfly to one of the low-hanging branches.

The butterfly, one of many hung on the tree on Tuesday night, represented the memory of their son, Kevin Hoover, who was murdered in January 1989. The Hoovers and other members of the community hung their butterflies after a victims’ rights ceremony across the street from the Merced County Superior Courthouse.

“He was 25 at the time,” Dale Hoover said. “He had just gotten out of the Army about a year before that.”

Pfc. Kevin Hoover was cleaning out an apartment in Winton his parents bought as an investment in real estate, the Hoovers told the Sun-Star, and was planning on moving in. While at the apartment, Kevin Hoover saw a reckless driver speeding through the neighborhood. Because children were around, Kevin stopped the car. The driver, a juvenile, followed Kevin back to the apartment and stabbed him to death.

Stories like this one were plenty at Tuesday night’s ceremony. Surviving family members and friends of those who were killed at the hands of violent criminals had tales of wonderful sons, motorcycle-riding fathers and hard-working employees who were all described as good people.

“This is a tradition I think most would not like to incorporate into their lives, but an event that brings comfort and solace to all of us,” said Lisa DeSantis, Merced County District Attorney’s Office victim witness assistance program coordinator and organizer of the ceremony.

Father shot and killed

Two sisters, Deborah and Alexandria Marquez, came to honor the memory of their father, David Albert Marquez, who was shot and killed in February 2002.

The sisters described their father as a charismatic man who worked as a truck driver and rode motorcycles. He loved community events and dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas.

“He enjoyed giving and being a loving person,” said Alexandria Marquez. “He was a very charismatic person. He would take toys to an orphanage we had here and sometimes convalescent homes.”

While the trauma of losing their father was one they continue to try to live with, the sisters said they still hang on to hope — something their father taught them during his life.

“That’s the best gift that our dad gave us was hope,” said Alexandria. “That’s the best thing you can do for a person you’ve lost to tragedy, to honor them by living and going forward.”

Violence increasing, DA says

The number of victims and the severity of violent crime has gone up in the last two years, especially in gun violence and homicides, said Merced County District Attorney Kimberly Lewis.

“We walk in step with victims as they process and recover,” said Lewis. “The victims’ assistance office has always echoed in sympathy with the victims in our community, but in the last two years, that has become harmonic as we not only witnessed, but felt ourselves, the shockwaves that come with being rendered a victim.”

One woman whose dairy and employees experienced those shockwaves spoke about an April 2020 attack on her dairy farm, where two of her employees were injured after an attacker, Hector Manuel Delacruz Jr., came to the farm and stabbed them both. Days later, Delacruz came to a neighboring farm and stabbed and killed a farmworker on that farm, as well.

Delacruz was arrested after the second attack and later convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and several other crimes.

“In just a few minutes, the course of our lives and our business was forever changed,” said Rachel Correia, the farmer whose business and employees were attacked. “The damage left behind when our employees, business and way of life was attacked is still trying to be repaired today. We were harmed mentally, financially, physically and emotionally.”

Correia said she and her family had to invest tens of thousands of dollars in security at Correia Family Dairy Farm, including surveillance cameras, locks on the milking barn doors, installing a fence on the front border of the farm and hiring armed security guards, among other things. She said they also had a difficult time finding workers who would work on the farm, saying local workers came to know her family’s farm as a “place where people get stabbed.”

“However, the financial burden the responsible person put on our business is of the least importance to us,” Correia said. “This person physically harmed our employees. These are hardworking, good men who do jobs most of us wouldn’t want to do.”

Community suffers

Those who spoke at the ceremony said that not only do the victims and their families suffer after violent crime, but the entire community suffers, too.

“We stand, and we fall, together,” said Pastor Ceasar Johnson, who spoke at the ceremony. “I don’t want our community to fall. I want our community to stand strong.”

Deborah Marquez, sitting next to her sister, said because of her family’s experience, she’s provided support to others in her life who have suffered similar tragedies to her own.

“It’s true this is a club we didn’t want to join, but we all stand together,” she said.

This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 1:58 PM.