SAN ANTONIO – Just days after Chayson Montez-Deocha was killed, allegedly at the hands of his girlfriend, his family gather Monday night as they tried to make sense of his death.
Deocha was a military veteran and a father of two.
Nearly 80 people gathered to remember the 40-year-old father of a 15-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.
Memories were shared, including his love of cooking, reading and how he was a friend to everyone.
RELATED: Neighbors heard mother's screams after she discovered her son's body
Leo Acosta was Montez-Deocha’s cousin, but said the two were raised more like brothers, and that his sudden death has shocked his entire family.
Investigators said Laura Flores Messick, 30, shot him after an argument Friday evening and then slit his throat, the arrest affidavit said. She was his live-in girlfriend. The victim's mother told police she had gone to the home after a series of disturbing phone calls with her son the previous evening. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the victim told his mother that he was arguing with Flores-Messick. His mother said he hung up when his girlfriend came to the door.
Acosta said he took her in when she had nowhere to go.
READ MORE: Far West Side woman charged with murdering boyfriend
"Never would I have ever imagined that his life would have been taken as gruesome as this lady did," Acosta said.
Montez-Deocha’s family said he was proud of his military service, and was the life of the party and a jokester.
"I'm going to miss him. I loved him. Like I said he was my brother and for him to be taken in this manner, it’s horrible. It’s horrible," Acosta said.
According to the arrest report, police said Flores-Messick confessed to killing her boyfriend. She was arrested Sunday on a murder charge.
Flores-Messick remains behind bars at the Bexar County jail on a $75,000 bond.
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