COON RAPIDS, Minn (Fox 9) – A Minnesota couple visiting Mexico was killed by gunmen on a highway near the popular tourist destination of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, earlier this month and now their family is raising money to pay for funeral and help their two children stay in school.
Miguel Angel Abrego Hurtado, 49, and Concepcion Leticia Carilo Arelando, 48, of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, were shot dead on April 7. The Mexican news network Millenio reported that a group of armed men on motorcycles overtook the pickup truck the couple was using and opened fire, killing them.
A pair of Koon Rapids was fatally shot in Puerto Escondido, Mexico on April 7.
The Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office tweeted that detectives were investigating the case.
According to the family, the couple is survived by their parents, siblings and two children – a 21-year-old son in college and an 18-year-old daughter who is in high school. The son and daughter now face the cost of transporting their parents’ bodies back to Minnesota, funeral expenses and mortgage payments at their home, according to a description on a GoFundMe page organized by the family.
Paun Hernandez Jr., a member of the Kuna Rapids municipal council, shared a link on his Facebook page to fundraising.
“What a heartbreaking situation for the Coon Rapids at the moment… Please share and let’s try to unite our children who are left to put the pieces together and take such a blow with unexpected financial burden,” he wrote.
Jasmine Carillo, niece of Leticia Carillo, remembers the couple as hardworking and compassionate. She said they ran a cleaning business together and rarely took a day off, working as hard as they could to provide for their families, but still finding time to get involved in their children’s school activities.
“My aunt and uncle were very hardworking people. “They really tried to work as hard as they could to provide for their two children … their children were their life,” she said.
Miguel Abrego Hurtado and Concepcion Leticia Carilo Arelano. (Image courtesy of the family) (FOX 9)
Jasmine said she was worried when Miguel and Leticia received COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic. Both were at risk, and she said her uncle struggled with his health, but managed.
“I’m grateful that at that time they were able to move forward and really set out to encourage people to get vaccinated,” she said.
Shortly afterwards, the couple volunteered at vaccination clinics at La Bendición Covenant Church in Brooklyn Park, urging other church members to get vaccinated and handing out kits to people after receiving their vaccines.
They regularly organized barbecues for their large family, where they played merry salsa music and grilled carne asada – marinated pork or steak with corn on the cob. Miguel will be the grill, she said, but Leticia will help too.
Concepcion Leticia Carrillo Arellano grilled during a family barbecue (Photo courtesy of the family) (FOX 9)
Jasmine Carilo said the family is waiting for more information from Mexican police and is asking for prayers and support through the GoFundMe page for the couple’s surviving son and daughter.
“I would say that one of our priorities right now is to help find support for my cousins, because they are just starting their lives. They are still young. They are still in school. And I can’t imagine being in their shoes at this point, moving through life without their parents. So if we can help them financially, it means we can take some of the weight off their shoulders, “she said.
Ann Osterhouse, who donated to the fundraiser, said she was a client of Miguel and Leticia’s home cleaning service. When Osterhus’s husband was ill, she needed help to maintain her home and hired Leticia as a cleaner.
“She was by my side when I needed her, and I was by her side when she needed me, and we immediately became friends,” Osterhus said.
Osterhaus then began recommending his friends to the couple’s cleaning service. “Everyone would say their lives were better because they met Leticia and Miguel,” she said.
Andrea Northwood, another friend of the couple, also donated.
“They were absolutely beautiful, caring, wonderful people and we are just sick and heartbroken about the loss of their two children,” she said.
Miguel Abrego Hurtado and Concepcion Leticia Carilo Arelano. (Image courtesy of the family)
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