August 2, 2026 - Overland, MO

​​​​​

In April of 2025, Nixon Pérez Paz was deported to Guatemala after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on his way to work in Overland, Missouri. His wife, Glendy González de la Cruz, was left to raise their two kids by herself—and to give birth to their third child just two months later. Though she had an active asylum case with the federal government, in June of 2026, the concern she had at being away from her husband, for the potential of being detained and separated from her young children, as well as increasing living costs, led González de la Cruz to return to Guatemala to reunite her family. However, on July 20, 2026, González de la Cruz and Pérez Paz were found murdered in a sugarcane field, their infant daughter alive and nearby. The details of their murders are unknown and still under investigation.

​

For me, detached as a choice from the current daily news cycle, I was only vaguely familiar with their story. However, once I learned of the vigil being held for González de la Cruz and Pérez Paz, my inner photojournalist begged me to go. To witness. To tell its story. But it's a story that is highly complicated in today's divisive political environment. That said, regardless of your individual biases predating this tragedy, what I can hopefully confirm for you is the intense pain this Overland community is feeling at their loss. The outpouring of support and community togetherness, as demonstrated by the hundreds of concerned citizens who attended Sunday's vigil, was moving; it was powerful; and their pain cannot be denied. I feel for their community... and it makes me to stop and wonder what I would do if I were facing their situation.

​

And it also forces me ask: what would you do if you found yourself in their situations?

​

For more insights into this evolving story, please visit Brian Muñoz's in-depth coverage at St. Louis Public Radio

​