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Family of 34-year-old man killed in Coachella remember him as a ‘kind soul’

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 We have continuing coverage on a murder investigation in Coachella.

 34-year-old James Montenegro's family are absolutely devastated. They want to remember him as a kind soul who loved music and poetry.

"He and his wife have a combo and so they perform and they sing and they have their instruments and he's just a wonderful person,” Sylvia Montenegro, grandmother and former Coachella mayor said. 

Montenegro remembers her grandson as an icon.

“James will always be with me. He is an icon. He is the person in our family, in our entire family and a merciful person to be remembered, I admire him,” Montenegro said.

 His father, Jaime Montenegro says he's destroyed by his son’s death, he says he didn't notice anything different when James left their home for the final time.

“It was James, his usual, happy, happy soul. I gave him a long hug when he left here that evening. So then I prayed over him, smiled, and my wife and I hugged and he drove away as he usually does in waves,” Montenegro said.

He shows a memorial he's set up in honor of his son.

“This is where James would like to sit and we would always sit here. I would always lay open with my bible and we would expand from the word,” Montenegro said.

 A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with funeral expenses.

The suspect arrested and charged in connection with Montenegro's murder, Mario Gonzalez, 44, of Coachella was in court on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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