A South Bay family is grieving the loss of their loved one who they say was murdered during a trip to Mexico.
The family of 41-year-old Erica Gamino, a divorced mother of five who grew up in San Jose, said when she left on a trip to Tijuana with her boyfriend in early August, it would turn out to be the last time they ever saw her.
Gamino's ex-husband called her family and told them he had identified her badly decomposed body, which was found along a road, and added he was told by police she had an apparent gunshot wound.
Tijuana police said the boyfriend may also be a victim.
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Albert Gamino, Erica's bother, said his family has spent most of the past month trying to find out more.
"The police haven’t even talked to us really," he said. "They gave us an initial police report that came out, but that was, again, not clear on any aspect of what’s going on."
Daniel Hoang, Erica's cousin, said family members have gone back and forth to Mexico and can't do much more.
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"Based on the embassy told us to do this, do this, do this, and we never have any answers, any clue," he said. "It’s just, at this point, just bring her back home for her kids and for us."
Albert agreed.
"I don’t think anything down there in Tijuana is gonna get solved. I really don’t," he said. "Me and her kids have come to the realization that we don’t expect anything to come from Tijuana but her to be brought home."
Erica’s children are being taken care of by a family member in the Bay Area as the entire family continues to live in limbo.
"We don’t want to continue to live life like this, like keep trying to reach out to Mexico and try to find out all the information," Hoang said. "We have no answers.”
The family has been in contact with the office of South Bay Congressman Ro Khanna, which is looking into the case.
