The day after Christmas is always tough for Tony Castro. It will forever be the day he lost his best friend at the hands of a still unknown killer.
“He was very young and very innocent,” Castro said of friend Matthew Macerato. “It was just really tough for me.”
Macerato, 18, and 22-year-old new mother Jessica Watson were shot dead, execution-style, in the basement of the Casual Male Big & Tall store along Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, Delaware on Dec. 26, 2004.
The clothing store workers were closing the shop up for the night when a robber came in, took some cash and shot them dead. Castro said his brother, who was the store’s manager, stepped out just before the robbery took place.
“My brother said ‘I’ll be right back.’ And when he came back all there was is yellow tape,” he recalled. “A lot of people changed after that day.”
A lack of leads and surveillance video left police with little to go on and the case has still not been solved. Vigils were held on the anniversaries of the victim’s deaths, but as the years came and went, those weaned.
Now, nearly 10 years later, Castro is holding an event to honor his friend and Watson and remind people that the person responsible is still on the loose.
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The December 26 event, named the “3rd World Entertainment Reunion Party” after the music company Castro created with Macerato, will include a photo display remembering the victims and a moment of silence, Castro said. There will also be several music performances.
“I’m pretty much trying to get everyone who would support him and Jessica at one place,” Castro said. “I want to remind people about the story. I don’t ever want it to stop.”
Castro hopes that a decade’s worth of guilt would prompt the suspect or someone who might know information in the case to finally give up details.
“I hope that it’s eating them alive and that they’re man enough to own up to their actions and come forward,” he said.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
