SAN ANTONIO -- A candlelight vigil was held Saturday night in honor of a popular restaurant owner killed in her home.

Beneath an oak canopy at the Oblate Grotto, family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of Viola Barrios.

"There are some people that are bigger in death than in life, and you are seeing it with my mother," Louis Barrios said.

More than 400 people came to the grotto where Barrios used to come to worship.

"People fell in love with her, but she loved them first, and she loved them most," Louis Barrios said. Viola Barrios, the matriarch of the Barrios family and the founder of Los Barrios restaurant, was killed in her home Thursday.

Police charged her neighbor, Joe Estrada, 18, with the crime and said burglary was the motive.

"I concede to the fact that my mother is in a better place," Louis Barrios said.

He said his family wants the public to pray for Estrada's family.

"They are my mother's neighbors. They loved my mother. They were friends with my mother, (and) their son is charged with this horrible crime," Louis Barrios said.

Longtime neighbors said the Barrios family showed amazing spirit and strength during a difficult time, and they said Viola will always be remembered.

"We're going to miss her in the neighborhood. We're going to miss her in life, but she left a legacy in her children and example and a beautiful smile," neighbor Mayra Esparza said.

A rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Sunday at St. Gregory the Great Catholic church, and a mass will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Gregory, with interment to follow at San Fernando Cemetery II.

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April 25, 2008: Neighbor, 18, Arrested In Barrios Slaying