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Weekend stabbing death is second loss for Wichita family

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September 04, 2012|By Pilar Pedraza | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — “He's just a super good kid and I think he'd just simply give the shirt off of his back and he wouldn't hurt a flea,” said Corinne Radke about the stabbing death of Francisco J ‘Tito’ Perez over the weekend.  His friends are struggling to understand why he had to die.

Perez was stabbed and killed Saturday.  This is the second time tragedy has hit this family.   His mother, was also a murder victim.

Francisco J ‘Tito’ Perez, Tito to friends and family, died Saturday night.  A fight with two homeless men along the riverwalk behind his apartment complex led to Perez being stabbed several times.  Police still aren't sure what led to that fight.

Those who knew Perez remain in shock days later.

“I met Tito when we was going through the trial,” said Radkey.  “When his mother was murdered.”

Corinne Radke is a victim's advocate, founder of the group Parents of Murdered Children.  She helped the Perez family get through the trial and sentencing of the man who killed both Perez' mother and another person when he drove his truck through a crowded parking lot back in 2008.

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“I think about him a lot,” said Radke.  “And then, when I heard this, I just couldn't believe it.”

She described Perez as a kind man.

“I always felt so good to have him around,” she said.

That's an assessment repeated by Perez' co-workers at the liquor store where he worked a second job on weekends.  They've even begun to take up a collection to help Perez' family pay for his funeral, which was on Monday.

The store is just down the street from where Perez lived and customers who knew and liked him are still just finding out about his death.  They're reacting with the same shock Radke felt.

“It couldn't… it couldn't happen to that family.  It can't happen again!  You know?  They were such a nice family, you know.  Why are they…  why are they having to go through this again?”

The people Perez worked with referred to him simply as a good guy.  He was also apparently very private because even though he'd worked there for more than a year, nobody knew about his mother's death.

Police have two men in custody for Perez' death and plan to file charges against them in the next day or so.

Weekend stabbing death is second loss for Wichita family.
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