Unfinished Lives

Second Man ID’ed in Austin’s Lesbian-Related Double Murder

Norma Hurtado (l), and Maria Hurtado, daughter and mother, slain on Monday.

Austin, Texas – Austin police have identified a second man involved in Monday night’s double murder of a lesbian athlete and her mother in Southeast Austin. KXAN reports that authorities made the announcement on Wednesday, and are currently trying to decide the role this second suspect played in the brutal shooting of the two women by José Alfonso Aviles, disgruntled father of the lesbian’s teenaged girlfriend. Both Norma Hurtado and Maria Hurtado, 24 and 57 respectively, died in the attack.  Aviles was infuriated about the same-sex dating relationship his daughter had with Ms. Hurtado, and had threatened both Ms. Hurtado and her family with harm prior to the double homicide.  As police reconstructed the killing, Aviles and the second suspect drove to the Hurtado home on Monday evening, knocked on the door of the residence, and as Ms. Hurtado and her mother answered the door, Aviles allegedly opened fire. Both suspects then fled into the night. At the time of the attack, Ms. Aviles, daughter of her lover’s assailant, was in the back of the Hurtado residence and heard the shots fired. She discovered the bodies on the floor, and called 911. Both daughter and mother were pronounced dead at the scene. José Aviles fled to the San Antonio area where U.S. Marshals arrested him on Tuesday.  He has been charged with capital murder, and is being held in the Bexar County Jail without bond.  We Are Austin reports that friends gathered at the Hurtado home Tuesday evening to comfort each other and to remember the slain women.  Norma Hurtado was a renowned soccer player in the Millennium League, and was considered one of its best players.  On Thursday, April 21, a Community Candlelight Vigil in memory of the slain women is planned at the offices of OutYouth, 909 East 49 1/2 Street in Austin, beginning at 8 p.m.  The public is encouraged to attend. Speaking on behalf of the faith communities of Austin, Rev. Karen Thompson, senior pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Austin, decried the attack prompted by a father’s anger at the lesbian relationship between Ms.Hurtado and Ms. Aviles. “It is always, always heartbreaking when ignorance and hatred lead to this kind of violence,” she said. “But today, on this Thursday of Holy Week, the heartbreak and sadness are multiplied by a terrible irony. As our GLBTQ brothers and sisters gather together to mourn two more senseless deaths, Christians all over the world will be gathering to observe Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday, the day on which our tradition holds that Jesus had a last supper with his disciples and gave them a new mandate, ‘A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.'”

April 21, 2011 - Posted by unfinishedlives | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Austin Police Department, death threats, gay bashing, gay teens, Gender Variant Youth, gun violence, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Latino and Latina Americans, Latinos, Law and Order, Lesbian women, multiple homicide, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Remembrances, Texas, Vigils, women | Anti-LGBT hate crime, Austin Police Department, gay teens, gun violence, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Latino / Latina Americans, Law and Order, Lesbians, perpetrators, Remembrances, Texas, Vigils