Workers Raise Money For Man Who Lost Wife, Son In Possible Arson
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Oscar Reyes, a cook at Henry's Taco's, is trying to raise money to pay for funeral expenses for his wife and 19-month-old son.
The man's wife and child -- Gisela Yauli and Dillan Reyes -- were killed last Wednesday in a South LA garage fire that police have called suspicious. They're calling the fire a possible murder and case of arson. The fact the fire may have been set, is only compounding Reyes' grief.
Reyes, openly distraught over his loss, spoke Wednesday evening to KCAL9's Rachel Kim.
His friends at Henry's Taco's (where he has been a cook for seven years) have set up a GoFundMe account for Oscar to pay for funeral expenses. A link to the page can be found here.
Kim also reported that shops and restaurants on Tujunga between Moorpark and Woodbridge plan to collect donations for Reyes on the evening of March 20.
Reyes and his 7-year-old son Kenny have been mourning deeply for a week.
Explaining the deaths to his son has been particularly hard.
"I just told him, mommy and his little brother are still here. They're just watching over him," Reyes said.
"Right now," he said, "Everything is just sadness. If it was another day, maybe I could have been there. Why that day? It makes me mad that I wasn't there to protect them."
A detective with the Newton Homicide Division declined to say what led investigators to say the case was a homicide but that they based it on physical evidence at the scene.
Police don't have any suspects or a motive for the crime.
Oscar has no idea who could have wanted to hurt his family.
"We're not the kind of people who goes out looking for trouble," he said. "Why? Why he did that?"