As John Allen Rubio faced execution, community held vigil for child victims

BROWNSVILLE — Irma Arellano was 19 when she learned that three young children had been killed by their patents in a home near downtown. Back then, she visited the site to leave three stuffed animals at a makeshift memorial for the children, whose deaths shocked the city and would remain in the headlines as the subsequent court hearings and death penalty appeals went on. “Now 23 years later, I find myself back here,” Arellano said. “Nothing even close to this had ever happened. And I think as a majority Hispanic community, where parents are supposed to protect their children and do anything for them, the fact that it was parents that did this was just — it affected everyone whether you were family or not.” Arellano was one of dozens of community members who lined the sidewalks in and around Tres Angeles Park on Thursday evening, gathering at the community green space to remember Julissa Quesada, 3, John Esteban Rubio, 14 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. The vigil, organized by the