Pregnant mom gave birth after husband’s ICE deportation before couple was found dead in sugarcane field
Weeks after reuniting in Guatemala. Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz and Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz were found bound and fatally shot, while their 1-year-old daughter was found alive beside them
NEED TO KNOW
- After Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz was deported from the U.S., Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz gave birth to the couple’s youngest daughter in Missouri before returning to Guatemala to reunite with him
- Weeks after the family reunited, the couple were found with their hands tied behind their backs and fatally shot in a sugarcane field, Reuters reported
- Their 1-year-old daughter was found alive beside them, while prosecutors continue investigating the killings
A husband and wife who reunited in Guatemala after the husband was deported from the U.S. were found bound and fatally shot in a sugarcane field, where their 1-year-old daughter was discovered alive beside them.
Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz, 43, and his wife, Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz, 25, were found dead outside the city of Retalhuleu in southwestern Guatemala, PEOPLE previously reported.
After Pérez Paz was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, González de la Cruz remained in Missouri, where she gave birth to the couple’s youngest daughter in June 2025 and worked two manual-labor jobs while raising their three daughters, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
Organizers with Fuerza, a St. Louis immigrant rights group, told the outlet that mounting financial pressures and fears she could be detained and separated from her children despite having an active asylum case ultimately led her to return to Guatemala to reunite with her husband.
The couple had been back together for only weeks when they were killed. Their youngest daughter was found alive beside them, according to Reuters and St. Louis Public Radio.Guatemalan police said Pérez Paz and González de la Cruz were found with their hands tied behind their backs. Pérez Paz appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the neck, while González de la Cruz had a wound to the head, Reuters reported, citing Guatemalan authorities. Police also recovered shell casings, a shoe and a motorcycle from the scene, according to Reuters.
Guatemala’s Public Ministry said the couple’s three children were placed in the care of extended family members after the killings, Reuters reported. Prosecutors are investigating the deaths and have not publicly identified a suspect or motive.
According to St. Louis Public Radio, Pérez Paz and his brother, Rolando Pérez Paz, were stopped by ICE while driving to work last year. An ICE spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that agents arrested Pérez Paz because he was unlawfully present in the United States.
“I felt that they took the thing I wanted most,” Rolando Pérez Paz told St. Louis Public Radio. “I felt a huge pain because it was my brother, my sister-in-law — people that wanted to work, to fight.”
He later added: “If immigration hadn’t picked up my brother, my sister-in-law would still be alive, and the children wouldn’t be going through this sorrow. Unfortunately, immigration — the (U.S.) government — doesn’t see that. It makes no difference to them.”
Overland Mayor Marty Little later said the city had not been notified before, during or after the ICE operation that led to Pérez Paz’s arrest.
“We were not notified; we didn’t know what was going on,” Little told St. Louis Public Radio. “They were in Overland and left without us knowing about it.”
Little said unannounced federal immigration operations can create public safety concerns because local police officers are unaware an operation is taking place.
A candlelight vigil honoring Pérez Paz and González de la Cruz is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 2 outside Overland City Hall, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
