Private Service Held for 3 Caro Brothers

A day after they publicly buried the three Santa Rosa Valley boys they all cared for and loved, family members of Socorro “Cora” Caro huddled Thursday night at a Mission Hills church to celebrate and remember the lives of Joseph, Michael and Christopher Caro.

At a private memorial service hosted by the Leon family, relatives--sometimes laughing, at times breaking into tears--shared their most cherished memories of the three young brothers who were shot to death last week.

The boys’ mother, Cora Caro, has been arrested in the slayings.

The gathering was “an intimate time” for the family, said David Leon, Cora Caro’s first cousin and pastor of Living Stone Christian Fellowship where nearly 100 members of the Leon family gathered.

Those assembled included the boys’ maternal grandparents, Greg and Juanita Leon, 11 uncles and one aunt of Cora Caro, numerous cousins and their spouses and their children.

On Nov. 22, Joseph, 11, Michael, 8, and Christopher, 5, were found in their beds, each with a gunshot wound in the head. Cora Caro was also found bleeding from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, but she is recovering at a Ventura hospital.

Flanked by funeral wreaths on the church’s stage Thursday, David Leon reminded the family “it is we who are in pain. The ones who have passed away, Joey, Mikie and Christopher, have no more pain.”

“I want to encourage you tonight to go on living,” the pastor said.

Richard Leon, another cousin of Cora Caro, recalled how he often played with the three boys. “They were beautiful kids,” he said.

Joey, he recalled, would tell jokes that nobody but Joey would laugh at. “I have something in common with him,” Richard Leon said as the audience erupted in laughter.

He recounted adventures of swimming with Michael in a river and told a story on how funny and clever Christopher was despite his young age.

For a class project, Christopher was supposed to draw a tree with himself in it. The boy drew a big tree with all his family members in it, but no Christopher could be found.

Where was the boy? “I’m behind the tree,” Richard Leon recalled Christopher saying.

Rudy Leon, Cora Caro’s uncle, broke into sobs as he stood at the microphone, then he took a breath. “I remember when I went camping with them,” he said, recalling a family outing by a lake. “I was just laying around watching the kids. It was just an awesome thing.”

Toward the end of the service, Danny Leon said, “We spent many happy years with Cora and the boys. This is part of the healing.”