Adolfo's fiancée, Amber Nelson, goes to the spot where he was killed every day to remember him. She said she'd rather grieve privately, but she says her public display of grief is meant to keep his murder in everyone's mind and may actually help find his killers.
Adolfo Celedon took a picture with his father, Alejandro, minutes before he caught a plane to the Bay Area where he told his family he would begin a new life.
A spot on a Berkeley street is marked with the word "Imagine" in the middle of a painted circle. That is where his life ended at the age of 35 on September 12th of last year. Nelson says he was shot to death by two men as they were walking home from his birthday party that same night. Nelson remembers that night every day since and visits the corner at Emerson and Adeline streets, where he died. She created a garden in his honor.
"This year was just a reminder that it's been a year. And that's a really, really difficult thing to have happen and that obviously, whether or not they catch the person who did, it doesn't change that he's gone," said Nelson.
Adolfo was an engineer with IBM in Chile before coming to Berkley to pursue acting career. Thursday night, his older sister, mother, father, and twin sister are visiting from Chile. His mother is visiting for the first time.
"My mother needs to come here. The first time, she couldn't come because she was sick. The terrible news [made her] sick," said Alejandra, Adolfo's sister.
Maria de La Luz, Adolfo's mother, came to see where he called home. Alejandra says the murder shattered the family last year.
"Our family is different since September 12th of last year. We're trying to work in a new family, trying to fix all the pieces of the family again," said Alejandra.
The family came to share this anniversary with Amber and Adolfo's friends. They also came to meet with Chile's consul general and police to get updated on the investigation. Chile's government has charged Consul Rolano Ortega with the task of helping find the killers of a Chilean citizen.
"I have received instructions from my country to support the family and also to support the investigation that is being carried out by the Berkeley police," said Ortega.
Berkeley police would not comment on the case and referred us the consul general. Chile's government, several organizations in Chile, and private donors have now placed a $20,000 reward for the arrest of the two men that Nelson says killed Adolfo and took off in an older, two-tone SUV.
