Furtado’s parents speak on tragedy

The parents of Steven Furtado, the slain Willows High senior, spoke out for the first time since the tragedy Tuesday morning.

Furtado, an 18-year old Willows High senior, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Carrigan, a senior at Chester High, were discovered dead by Carrigan’s mother a week ago in Chester.

“The community support we have received has made all the difference in the world,” said Steven’s mother, Denise. She said she and her husband have been receiving phones calls and visitors on a routine basis since last Sunday. “Even people we haven’t seen for 20 years have called us this week,” Dan said.

More than 600 people attended Steven’s funeral Saturday morning at Memorial Hall in Willows.

Furtado was the third student to die from this year’s senior class in Willows. Last month, 18-year old Kayla Arnold died in San Francisco for unknown medical reasons. In 2006, Brian Parks died after collapsing at a football practice. All three were supposed to graduate in just three weeks. Steven was buried just a few feet from his classmates.

“We’ve seen the community support other families, but being on this side of it makes you appreciate this place. I don’t think we could get this kind of community support anywhere else,” Denise said.

Steven’s father, Dan, said his son should be remembered as an All-American boy.

“You couldn’t ask for a better kid or a better son,” Dan said. “He never really got into trouble, a few speeding tickets and a curfew violation, which is probably the worst thing he ever did.”

Denise said Steven introduced his parents to his girlfriend about two months ago. “She came to stay here for about four days during the band’s spring concert,” Denise said. “She was a beautiful girl, very polite and we really enjoyed having her here,” she said.

“As far as we could tell, they were a perfect match,” Dan said. “They both loved music and had personal goals that did not change after they met.”

Denise said her son talked about Jenny in away that struck her as different from previous girlfriends. “We got a lot more of a sense of two adults starting a relationship than we had before and they just seemed to fit,” she said. “I wish a lot of things now, but I wish we had been able to spend more time with Jenny.”

The bodies of both victims were discovered by Jenny’s mother, Jodie Carrigan, around noon on Mother’s Day. Carrigan’s troubles were compounded later when her son Billy was fatally injured in a car collision as he rushed home to be with his mother.

The Furtados attended memorial services for the Carrigan siblings Tuesday afternoon at Chester High.

Within just a few hours after the two teenagers were found, Plumas County sheriff’s deputies arrested Reyes Carrillo-Garcia, Carrigan’s former boyfriend, and charged him with two counts of murder and one count of burglary. Carrillo-Garcia, 18, will be arraigned June 4 and is being held without bail in Quincy. The Plumas County district attorney has said he will pursue the death penalty, according to media reports, and the Furtados said Tuesday they plan to attend the trial.

“We will see this thing through to the end for Steven,” Denise said. “We’re not going to hear what (the suspect) has to say, there isn’t one thing that he could say,” she said. “We will be there to see this play out for Steven,” she added.

Dan said Steven had discussed the suspect a few times with his parents. “The only thing we knew was that it was an ex-boyfriend giving them some trouble,” Dan said. “Steven told us that a couple of times (the suspect) broke into (the Carrigan) house.” Dan said his son had also talked about a recent incident in which the tires were slashed on a vehicle owned by the Carrigans.

Dan said Steven had advised Jenny to tell the authorities about the slashed tires, but it was not clear if she ever did. He said the week before the tragedy, Steven said Carrillo-Garcia had taken Jenny’s cell phone and sent Steven fake text messages in a failed attempt to break up the relationship. Investigators have not been able to locate Jenny’s cell phone, Dan said.

“We put it off as kind of normal teenage jealousy. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it would go this far,” Dan said. “I told Steven to stay away from that kid and, as far as I know, he did.”

The Furtados said they are fairly certain that Steven never came face to face with Carrillo-Garcia before the night he was killed. “The bottom line is, we want this guy put away,” Dan said.

Contact Rob Parsons at 458-2121 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.